Exodus

I. THE LIBERATION FROM EGYPT
A. ISRAEL IN EGYPT
The prosperity of the Hebrews in Egypt

1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went with Jacob to Egypt, each with his family:

1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah,

1:3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin,

1:4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

1:5 In all, the descendants of Jacob numbered seventy persons. Joseph was in Egypt already.

1:6 Then Joseph died, and his brothers, and all that generation.

1:7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and grew in numbers greatly; they increased and grew so immensely powerful that they filled the land.

The Hebrews oppressed

1:8 Then there came to power in Egypt a new king who knew nothing of Joseph.

1:9 ‘Look,’ he said to his subjects ‘these people, the sons of Israel, have become so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us.

1:10 We must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further, or if war should break out, they might add to the number of our enemies. They might take arms against us and so escape out of the country.’

1:11 Accordingly they put slave-drivers over the Israelites to wear them down under heavy loads. In this way they built the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses[*a] for Pharaoh.

1:12 But the more they were crushed, the more they increased and spread, and men came to dread the sons of Israel.

1:13 The Egyptians forced the sons of Israel into slavery,

1:14 and made their lives unbearable with hard labour, work with clay and with brick, all kinds of work in the fields; they forced on them every kind of labour.

1:15 The king of Egypt then spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other Puah.

1:16 ‘When you midwives attend Hebrew women,’ he said ‘watch the two stones[*b] carefully. If it is a boy, kill him; if a girl, let her live.’

1:17 But the midwives were God-fearing: they disobeyed the command of the king of Egypt and let the boys live.

1:18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives. ‘Why’ he asked them ‘have you done this and spared the boys?’

1:19 ‘The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women,’ they answered Pharaoh ‘they are hardy, and they give birth before the midwife reaches them.’

1:20 God was kind to the midwives. The people went on increasing and grew very powerful;

1:21 since the midwives reverenced God he granted them descendants.

1:22 Pharaoh then gave his subjects this command: ‘Throw all the boys born to the Hebrews into the river, but let all the girls live’.

JB EXODUS Chapter 2
B. EARLY LIFE AND CALL OF MOSES

The birth of Moses

2:1 There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife.

2:2 She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months.

2:3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge.

2:4 His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.

2:5 Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it.

2:6 She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews’ she said.

2:7 Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’

2:8 ‘Yes, go’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother.

2:9 To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled it.

2:10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water’.[*a]
Moses escapes to Midian

2:11 Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen.

2:12 Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

2:13 On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’

2:14 ‘And who appointed you’ the man retorted ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to light’ he thought.

2:15 When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.[*b] And he sat down beside a well.

2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s sheep.

2:17 Shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses came to their defence and watered their sheep for them.

2:18 When they returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, ‘You are back early today!’

2:19 ‘An Egyptian protected us from the shepherds;’ they said ‘yes, and he drew water for us and watered the flock.’

2:20 ‘And where is he?’ he asked his daughters. ‘Why did you leave the man there? Ask him to eat with us.’

2:21 So Moses settled with this man, who gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage.

2:22 She gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom because, he said, ‘I am a stranger in a foreign land’.
THE CALL OF MOSES

God remembers Israel

2:23 During this long period the king of Egypt died. The sons of Israel, groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the depths of their slavery their cry came up to God.

2:24 God heard their groaning and he called to mind his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

2:25 God looked down upon the sons of Israel, and he knew…

JB EXODUS Chapter 3
The burning bush

3:1 Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,[*a] the mountain of God.

3:2 There the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up.

3:3 ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’

3:4 Now Yahweh saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am’ he answered.

3:5 ‘Come no nearer’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.

3:6 I am the God of your father,’ he said ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.
The mission of Moses

3:7 And Yahweh said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings.

3:8 I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.

3:9 And now the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have witnessed the way in which the Egyptians oppress them,

3:10 so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt.’

3:11 Moses said to God, ‘Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?’

3:12 ‘I shall be with you,’ was the answer ‘and this is the sign by which you shall know that it is I who have sent you… After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain.’
The divine name revealed

3:13 Then Moses said to God, ‘I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you”. But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?’

3:14 And God said to Moses, ‘I Am who I Am. ‘This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of Israel: “I Am has sent me to you”.’

3:15 And God also said to Moses, ‘You are to say to the sons of Israel: “Yahweh,[*b] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”. This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.
Moses instructed for his mission

3:16 ‘Go and gather the elders of Israel together and tell them, “Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has appeared to me, – the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and he has said to me: I have visited you and seen all that the Egyptians are doing to you.

3:17 And so I have resolved to bring you up out of Egypt where you are oppressed, into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land where milk and honey flow.”

3:18 They will listen to your words, and with the elders of Israel you are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us. Give us leave, then, to make a three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to Yahweh our God.”

3:19 For myself, knowing that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is forced by a mighty hand,

3:20 I shall show my power and strike Egypt with all the wonders I am going to work there. After this he will let you go.
The Egyptians to be plundered

3:21 I will give this people such prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

3:22 Every woman will ask her neighbour and the woman who is staying in her house for silver ornaments and gold. With these you will adorn your sons and daughters; you will plunder the Egyptians.’

JB EXODUS Chapter 4
Moses granted miraculous powers

4:1 Then Moses answered, ‘What if they will not believe me or listen to my words and say to me, “Yahweh has not appeared to you”?’

4:3 ‘Throw it on the ground’ said Yahweh; so Moses threw his staff on the ground – it turned into a serpent and he drew back from it.

4:4 ‘Put your hand out and catch it by the tail’ Yahweh said to him. And he put out his hand and caught it, and in his hand the serpent turned into a staff. . .

4:5 ‘so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has really appeared to you.’

4:6 Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, ‘Put your hand into your bosom.’ He put his hand into his bosom and when he drew it out, his hand was covered with leprosy, white as snow.

4:7 ‘Put your hand back into your bosom.’ He put his hand back into his bosom and when he drew it out, there it was restored, just like the rest of his flesh.

4:8 ‘Even so: should they not believe you nor be convinced by the first sign, the second will convince them;

4:9 but if they should believe neither of these two signs and not listen to your words, you must take water from the river and pour it on the ground, and the water you have drawn from the river will turn to blood on the ground.’
Aaron, the mouthpiece of Moses

4:10 Moses said to Yahweh, ‘But, my Lord, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence, either before or since you have spoken to your servant. I am a slow speaker and not able to speak well.’

4:11 ‘Who gave man his mouth?’ Yahweh answered him. ‘Who makes him dumb or deaf, gives him sight or leaves him blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

4:14 At this, the anger of Yahweh blazed out against Moses, and he said to him, ‘There is your brother Aaron the Levite, is there not? I know that he is a good speaker. Here he comes to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will be full of joy.

4:15 You will speak to him and tell him what message to give. I shall help you to speak, and him too, and instruct you what to do.

4:16 He himself is to speak to the people in your place; he will be your mouthpiece, and you will be as the god inspiring him.

4:17 And take this staff into your hand; with this you will perform the signs.’
Moses returns to Egypt. He leaves Midian

4:18 Moses went away and returned to his father-in-law Jethro, and said to him, ‘Give me leave to go back to my relatives in Egypt to see if they are still alive’. And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace’.

4:19 Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go, return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead’.

4:20 So Moses took his wife and his son and, putting them on a donkey, started back for the land of Egypt; and Moses took in his hand the staff of God.

4:21 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Now that you are going back to Egypt, be prepared to perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have given you power to do. I myself will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

4:22 Then you will say to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my first-born son.

4:23 I ordered you to let my son go to offer me worship. You refuse to let him go. So be it! I shall put your first-born to death”.’
The son of Moses circumcised

4:24 On the journey, when Moses had halted for the night, Yahweh came to meet him and tried to kill him.

4:25 At once Zipporah, taking up a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin and with it she touched the genitals of Moses ‘Truly, you are a bride-groom of blood to me!’ she said.

4:26 And Yahweh let him live. It was then that she said, ‘bridegroom of blood’ on account of the circumcision.
Moses meets Aaron

4:27 Yahweh said to Aaron, ‘Go into the wilderness to meet Moses’. And so he went, and met him at the mountain of God; and he kissed him.

4:28 Moses then told Aaron all that Yahweh had said when he set him his task and all the signs he had ordered him to perform.

4:29 Moses and Aaron then went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel together,

4:30 and Aaron told all that Yahweh had said to Moses, and in the sight of the people he performed the signs.

4:31 The people were convinced, and they rejoiced that Yahweh had visited the sons of Israel and

JB EXODUS Chapter 5

seen their misery, and they bowed down and worshipped.
The first audience with Pharaoh

5:1 After this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, has said, “Let my people go, so that they may keep a feast in the wilderness in honour of me.”‘

5:2 ‘Who is Yahweh,’ Pharaoh replied ‘that I should listen to him and let Israel go? I know nothing of Yahweh, and I will not let Israel go.’

5:3 ‘The God of the Hebrews has come to meet us’ they replied. ‘Give us leave to make a three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or he will come down on us with a plague or with the sword.’

5:4 The king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, what do you mean by taking the people away from their work? Get back to your labouring.’

5:5 And Pharaoh said, ‘Now that these common folk have grown to such numbers, do you want to stop them labouring?’
Instructions to the slave-drivers

5:6 That same day, Pharaoh gave this command to the people’s slave-drivers and to the overseers.

5:7 Up to the present, you have provided these people with straw for brickmaking. Do so no longer; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

5:8 All the same, you are to get from them the same number of bricks as before, not reducing it at all. They are lazy, and that is why their cry is, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God”.

5:9 Make these men work harder than ever, so that they do not have time to stop and listen to glib speeches.’

5:10 The people’s slave-drivers went out with the overseers to speak to the people. ‘Pharaoh has given orders’ they said: ‘”I will not provide you with straw.

5:11 Go out and collect straw for yourselves wherever you can find it. But your output is not to be any less.”‘

5:12 So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for making chopped straw.

5:13 The slave-drivers harassed them. ‘Every day you must complete your daily quota,’ they said ‘just as you did when straw was provided for you.’

5:14 And the foremen who had been appointed for the sons of Israel by Pharaoh’s slave-drivers were flogged, and they were asked, ‘Why have you not produced your full amount of bricks as before, either yesterday or today?’
The Hebrew foremen complain

5:15 The foremen for the sons of Israel went to Pharaoh and complained. ‘Why do you treat your servants so?’ they said.

5:16 ‘No straw is provided for your servants and still the cry is, “Make bricks!” And now your servants have been flogged!…’

5:17 ‘You are lazy, lazy’ he answered ‘that is why you say, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to Yahweh”.

5:18 Get back to your work at once. You shall not get any straw, but you must deliver the number of bricks due from you.’
The dilemma of the foremen. Moses prays

5:19 The foremen for the sons of Israel saw themselves in a very difficult position when told there was to be no reduction in the daily number of bricks.

5:20 As they left Pharaoh’s presence they met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them.

5:21 ‘May Yahweh see your work and punish you as you deserve!’ they said to them. ‘You have made us hated by Pharaoh and his court; you have put a sword into their hand to kill us.’

5:22 Once more Moses turned to Yahweh. ‘Lord,’ he said to him ‘why do you treat this people so harshly? Why did you send me here?

5:23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh and spoke to him in your name, he has ill-treated this nation, and you have done nothing to deliver your people.’

JB EXODUS Chapter 6

6:1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘You will see now how I shall punish Pharaoh. He will be forced to let them go; yes, he will be forced to send them out of his land.’
Another account of the call of Moses

6:2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I am Yahweh.

6:3 To Abraham and Isaac and Jacob I appeared as El Shaddai; I did not make myself known to them by my name Yahweh.

6:4 Also, I made my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as strangers.

6:5 And I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, enslaved by the Egyptians and have remembered my covenant.

6:6 Say this, then, to the sons of Israel, “I am Yahweh. I will free you of the burdens which the Egyptians lay on you. I will release you from slavery to them, and with my arm outstretched and my strokes of power I will deliver you.

6:7 I will adopt you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that it is I, Yahweh your God, who have freed you from the Egyptians’ burdens.

6:8 Then I will bring you to the land I swore that I would give to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and will give it to you for your own; I, Yahweh, will do this!”‘

6:9 Moses told this to the sons of Israel, but they would not listen to him, so crushed was their spirit and so cruel their slavery.

6:10 Yahweh then said to Moses,

6:11 ‘Go to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and tell him to let the sons of Israel leave his land’.

6:12 But Moses answered to Yahweh’s face: ‘Look,’ said he ‘since the sons of Israel have not listened to me, why should Pharaoh listen to me, a man slow of speech?’

6:13 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and ordered them both to go to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
The genealogy of Moses and Aaron

6:14 These are the heads of their families: The sons of Reuben, Israel’s first-born: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi: these are the clans of Reuben.

6:15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of the Canaanite woman: these are the clans of Simeon.

6:16 These are the names of the sons of Levi with their descendants: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived for a hundred and thirty-seven years.

6:17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei and their clans.

6:18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived for a hundred and thirty-three years.

6:19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi with their descendants.

6:20 Amram married Jochebed, his aunt, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived for a hundred and thirty-seven years.

6:21 The sons of Izhar were: Korah, Nepheg and Zichri.

6:22 And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

6:23 Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

6:24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.

6:25 Eleazar, son of Aaron, married one of Putiel’s daughters who bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of families of the Levites according to their clans.

6:26 It was to this same Aaron and Moses that Yahweh had said, ‘Bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt in battle order’.

6:27 It was they who spoke with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing the sons of Israel out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.
The narrative of Moses’ call resumed

6:28 On the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

6:29 he said this to him, ‘I am Yahweh. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you.’

6:30 But Moses said to Yahweh’s face, ‘I am slow of speech, why should Pharaoh listen to me?’

JB EXODUS Chapter 7

7:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘See, I make you as a god for Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother is to be your prophet.

7:2 You yourself must tell him all I command you, and Aaron your brother will tell Pharaoh to let the sons of Israel leave his land.

7:3 I myself will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and perform many a sign and wonder in the land of Egypt,

7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you and so I will lay my hand on Egypt and with strokes of power lead out my armies, my people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt.

7:5 And all the Egyptians shall come to know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.’

7:6 Moses and Aaron obeyed; they did what Yahweh commanded them.

7:7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three at the time of their audience with Pharaoh.
C. THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT[*a] – THE PASSOVER

The staff turned into a serpent

7:8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,

7:9 ‘If Pharaoh says to you, “Produce some marvel”, you must say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and let it turn into a serpent”‘.

7:10 To Pharaoh, then, Moses and Aaron duly went, and they did as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his court, and it turned into a serpent.

7:11 Then Pharaoh in his turn called for the sages and the sorcerers, and with their witchcraft the magicians of Egypt did the same.

7:12 Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the staffs of the magicians.

7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
The first plague: the water turns to blood

7:14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh is adamant. He refuses to let the people go.

7:15 In the morning go to him as he makes his way to the water and wait for him by the bank of the river. In your hand take the staff that turned into a serpent.

7:16 Say to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say: Let my people go to offer me worship in the wilderness. Now, so far you have not listened.

7:17 Here is Yahweh’s message: That I am Yahweh you shall learn by this: with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the river and it shall be changed into blood.

7:18 The fish in the river will die, and the river will smell so foul that the Egyptians will not want to drink the water of it.”‘

7:19 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers and their canals, their marshland, and all their reservoirs, and let them turn to blood throughout the land of Egypt, even down to the contents of every tub or jar”‘.

7:20 Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh commanded. He raised his staff and in the sight of Pharaoh and his court he struck the waters of the river, and all the water in the river changed to blood.

7:21 The fish in the river died, and the river smelt so foul that the Egyptians found it impossible to drink its water. Throughout the land of Egypt there was blood.

7:22 But the magicians of Egypt used their witchcraft to do the same, so that Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

7:23 Pharaoh turned away and went back into his palace, taking no notice even of this.

7:24 Meanwhile, all the Egyptians dug holes along the banks of the river in search of drinking water; they found the water of the river impossible to drink.

7:25 After Yahweh had struck the river, seven days passed.
The second plague: the frogs

7:26 Then Yahweh said to Moses; ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him “This is Yahweh’s message: Let my people go to offer me worship.

7:27 If you refuse to let them go, know that I will plague the whole of your country with frogs.

7:28 The river will swarm with them; they will make their way into your palace, into your bedroom, on to your bed, into the houses of your courtiers and of your subjects, into your ovens, into your kneading bowls.

7:29 The frogs will even climb all over you, over your courtiers, and over all your subjects.”‘

JB EXODUS Chapter 8

8:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand, with your staff, over the rivers, the canals, the marshland, and make frogs swarm all over the land of Egypt”‘.

8:2 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

8:3 But the magicians did the same with their witchcraft, and made frogs swarm all over the land of Egypt.

8:4 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, ‘Entreat Yahweh’ he said ‘to rid me and my subjects of the frogs, and I promise to let the people go and offer sacrifice to Yahweh.’

8:5 Moses answered Pharaoh, ‘Take this chance to get the better of me! When I pray on your account and for your courtiers, and for your subjects, what time am I to fix for the frogs to leave you and your subjects and your houses, and stay in the river?’

8:6 ‘Tomorrow’ Pharaoh said. ‘It shall be as you say’ answered Moses. ‘By this you shall learn that Yahweh our God has no equal.

8:7 The frogs will go from you and your palaces, your courtiers and your subjects; they will stay in the river.’

8:8 When Moses and Aaron had gone from Pharaoh’s presence, Moses pleaded with Yahweh about the frogs with which he had afflicted Pharaoh.

8:9 And Yahweh granted Moses’ prayer: in house and courtyard and field the frogs died.

8:10 They piled them up in heaps and the land reeked of them.

8:11 But as soon as he saw that relief had been granted, Pharaoh became adamant again and, as Yahweh had foretold, he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
The third plague: the mosquitoes

8:12 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron, “Stretch out your rod and strike the dust on the ground: throughout the land of Egypt it will turn into mosquitoes”‘.

8:13 Aaron stretched out his hand, with his staff, and struck the dust on the ground. The mosquitoes attacked men and beasts; throughout the land of Egypt the dust on the ground turned into mosquitoes.

8:14 The magicians with their witchcraft tried to produce mosquitoes and failed. The mosquitoes attacked men and beasts.

8:15 So the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God’. But Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
The fourth plague: the gadflies

8:16 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and wait for Pharaoh as he makes his way to the water. Say to him, “This is Yahweh’s message: Let my people go to offer me worship.

8:17 But if you do not let my people go, I shall send gadflies on you, on your courtiers and your palaces. The houses of the Egyptians will be infested with them, and even the very ground they stand on.

8:18 But I shall set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, on that day; there will be no gadflies there, and so you may know that I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land.

8:19 I shall make a distinction between my people and yours. This sign shall take place tomorrow.”‘

8:20 Yahweh did this, and great swarms of gadflies found their way into Pharaoh’s palace, into the houses of his courtiers, and into all the land of Egypt, and ruined the country.

8:21 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. ‘Go’ he said ‘and offer sacrifice to your God, but in this country!’

8:22 ‘That would not be right’ Moses answered. ‘We sacrifice to Yahweh our God animals which Egyptians count it sacrilege to slaughter. If we offer in front of the Egyptians sacrifices that outrage them, will they not stone us?[*a]

8:23 We must make a three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.

8:24 Pharaoh replied, ‘I will let you go to offer sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, provided you do not go far. And intercede for me.’

8:25 ‘The moment I leave you,’ said Moses ‘I will pray to Yahweh. Tomorrow morning the gadflies will leave Pharaoh and his courtiers and his subjects. Only, Pharaoh must not play false again, and refuse to let the people go to offer sacrifice to Yahweh.’

8:26 So Moses went out of Pharaoh’s presence and prayed to Yahweh.

8:27 And Yahweh did as Moses asked; the gadflies left Pharaoh and his courtiers and his subjects; not one remained.

8:28 But Pharaoh was adamant this time too and did not let the people go.

JB EXODUS Chapter 9
The fifth plague: death of the Egyptians’ livestock

9:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is the message of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to offer me worship.

9:2 If you refuse to let them go and detain them any longer,

9:3 you will find that the hand of Yahweh will fall on your livestock in the fields, horse and donkey and camel, herd and flock, with a deadly plague.

9:4 Yahweh will discriminate between the livestock of Israel and of Egypt: nothing shall die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.

9:5 Yahweh has fixed the hour. Tomorrow, he has said, Yahweh will carry out this threat in all the land.”

9:6 Next day Yahweh kept his word; all the Egyptians’ livestock died, but none owned by the sons of Israel died.

9:7 Pharaoh had inquiries made, but it was true: none was dead of the livestock owned by the sons of Israel. But Pharaoh became adamant again and did not let the people go.
The sixth plague: the boils

9:8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and before the eyes of Pharaoh let Moses throw it in the air.

9:9 It shall spread like fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and bring out boils that break into sores on man and beast all over the land of Egypt.’

9:10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood in front of Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air. And on man and beast it brought out boils breaking into sores.

9:11 And the magicians could not face Moses, because the magicians were covered with boils like all the other Egyptians.

9:12 But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he refused to listen to them.
The seventh plague: the hail

9:13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Say to him, “This is the message of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to offer me worship.

9:14 This time I mean to send all my plagues on you and your courtiers and your subjects so that you shall learn that there is no one like me in the whole world.

9:15 Had I stretched out my hand to strike you and your subjects with pestilence, you would have been swept from the earth.

9:16 But I have let you live for this: to make you see my power and to have my name published throughout all the earth.

9:17 High-handed with my people still, you will not let them go.

9:18 Tomorrow, therefore, at about this time, I will let fall so great a storm of hail as was never known in Egypt from the day of its foundation.

9:19 So now have your livestock, and everything that is yours in the fields put under cover: on man and beast, on all that remains in the fields and is not brought indoors, the hail will fall and they will die.”‘

9:20 Some of Pharaoh’s courtiers, terrified by Yahweh’s threat, brought their slaves and livestock indoors,

9:21 but those who disregarded Yahweh’s threat left their slaves and livestock, in the fields.

9:22 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on man and beast and all that grows in the fields in the land of Egypt’.

9:23 Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yahweh thundered and rained down hail. Lightning struck the earth. Yahweh rained down hail on the land of Egypt.

9:24 The hail fell, and lightning flashing in the midst of it, a greater storm of hail than had ever been known in Egypt since it first became a nation.

9:25 Throughout the land of Egypt the hail struck down everything in the fields, man and beast. It struck all the crops in the fields, and it shattered every tree in the fields.

9:26 Only in the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived, was there no hail.

9:27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. ‘This time’ he said ‘I admit my fault. Yahweh is in the right; I and my subjects are in the wrong.

9:28 Entreat Yahweh to stop the thunder and the hail; I promise to let you go, and you shall stay here no longer.’

9:29 Moses answered him, ‘The moment I leave the city I will stretch out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to Yahweh.

9:30 But as for you and your courtiers, I know very well that you have no fear yet of Yahweh our God.’

9:31 The flax and the barley were ruined, since the barley was in the ear and the flax budding.

9:32 The wheat and the spelt, being late crops, were not destroyed.

9:33 Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He stretched out his hands to Yahweh and the thunder and the hail stopped and the rain no longer poured down on the earth.

9:34 When Pharaoh saw that rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned yet again.

9:35 He became adamant, he and his courtiers. The heart of Pharaoh was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold through Moses, he did not let the sons of Israel go.

JB EXODUS Chapter 10
The eighth plague: the locusts

10:1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for it is I who have made his heart and his courtiers stubborn, so that I could work these signs of mine among them;

10:2 so that you can tell your sons and your grandsons how I made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I performed among them, to let you know that I am Yahweh’.

10:3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said to him, ‘This is the message of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go to offer me worship.

10:4 If you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will send locusts over your country.

10:5 They shall cover the surface of the soil so thick that the soil will not be seen. They shall devour the remainder that is left to you, all that has survived from the hail; they shall devour all your trees growing in the fields; they shall fill your palaces, the houses of your courtiers, the houses of all the Egyptians.

10:6 Your forefathers and their ancestors will never have seen the like since first they lived in the country.”‘ Then Moses turned away and left Pharaoh’s presence.

10:7 And Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, ‘How much longer is this man to be the cause of our trouble? Let the people go to offer worship to Yahweh their God. Do you not understand that Egypt is now on the brink of ruin?’

10:8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. ‘You may go’ he said to them ‘and offer worship to Yahweh your God. But who are to go?’

10:9 ‘We shall take our young men and our old men’ Moses answered. ‘We shall take our sons and daughters, our flocks and our herds, because for us it is a feast of Yahweh.’

10:10 ‘May Yahweh be with you if ever I let you and your little ones go!’ Pharaoh retorted. ‘It is plain you are up to no good.

10:11 Oh no! You men may go and offer worship to Yahweh, since that is what you wanted.’ And with that they were dismissed from the presence of Pharaoh.

10:12 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. Let them invade the land of Egypt and devour all its greenstuff, all that the hail has left.’

10:13 And over the land of Egypt Moses stretched his staff, and Yahweh brought up an east wind over the land and it blew all that day and night. By morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.

10:14 The locusts invaded the whole land of Egypt. On the whole territory of Egypt they fell, in numbers so great that such swarms had never been seen before, nor would be again.

10:15 They covered the surface of the soil till the ground was black with them. They devoured all the greenstuff in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. No green was left on tree or plant in the fields throughout the land of Egypt.

10:16 Pharaoh sent urgently for Moses and Aaron. ‘I have sinned against Yahweh your God,’ he said ‘and against yourselves.

10:17 Forgive my sin, I implore you, this once, and entreat Yahweh your God just to rid me of this deadly plague.’

10:18 So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and interceded with Yahweh.

10:19 Then Yahweh made the wind veer till it blew so strongly from the west that it caught up the locusts and carried them off towards the Sea of Reeds. There was not one locust left in the whole land of Egypt.

10:20 But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
The ninth plague: the darkness

10:21 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and let darkness, darkness so thick that it can be felt, cover the land of Egypt’.

10:22 So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and for three days there was deep darkness over the whole land of Egypt.

10:23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days, but where the sons of Israel lived there was light for them.

10:24 Pharaoh summoned Moses. ‘Go and offer worship to Yahweh,’ he said but your flocks and herds must remain here. Your children may go with you too.’

10:25 Moses replied, ‘But you must let us have means of offering sacrifices and holocausts to Yahweh our God.

10:26 Our livestock, too, must go with us; not one head of cattle must be left behind: it must be from our livestock that we provide for the worship of Yahweh our God; until we reach the place, we do not know ourselves what worship we shall have to offer Yahweh.’

10:27 But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he refused to let them go.

10:28 Pharaoh said to Moses, ‘Out of my sight! Take care! Never appear before me again, for on the day you do, you die!’

10:29 Moses replied, ‘You yourself have said it: never again shall I appear before you.’

JB EXODUS Chapter 11
Moses proclaims the death of the first-born

11:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘One disaster more I shall bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt, just one. After this he will let you go from here . . Indeed, he will drive you out!

11:2 Instruct the people that every man is to ask his neighbour, every woman hers, for silver ornaments and gold.’

11:3 And Yahweh gave the people prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians, while Moses himself was a man of great importance in the land of Egypt, and of high prestige with Pharaoh’s courtiers and with the people.

11:5 All the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die: from the first-born of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the first-born of the maidservant at the mill, and all the first-born of the cattle.

11:6 And throughout the land of Egypt there shall be such a wailing as never was heard before, nor will be again.

11:7 But against the sons of Israel, against man or beast, never a dog shall bark, so that you may know that Yahweh discriminates between Egypt and Israel.

11:8 Then all these courtiers of yours will come down to me and bow low before me and say: Go away, you and all the people who follow you! After this, I shall go.”‘ And, hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.

11:9 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will not listen to you; so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt’.

11:10 All these wonders Moses and Aaron worked in the presence of Pharaoh. But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not let the sons of Israel leave his country.

JB EXODUS Chapter 12

The Passover

12:1 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

12:2 ‘This month is the first of all the others for you, the first month of your year.

12:3 Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock, one for each family: one animal for each household.

12:4 If the household is too small to eat the animal, a man must join with his neighbour, the nearest to his house, as the number of persons requires. You must take into account what each can eat in deciding the number for the animal.

12:5 It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may take it from either sheep or goats.

12:6 You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it between the two evenings.[*a]

12:7 Some of the blood must then be taken and put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten.

12:8 That night, the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12:9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, but roasted over the fire, head, feet and entrails.

12:10 You must not leave any over till the morning: whatever is left till morning you are to burn.

12:11 You shall eat it like this: with a girdle round your waist, sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand. You shall eat it hastily: it is a passover[*b] in honour of Yahweh.

12:12 That night, I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike, and I shall deal out punishment to all the gods of Egypt, I am Yahweh!

12:13 The blood shall serve to mark the houses that you live in. When I see the blood I will pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land of Egypt.

12:14 This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in Yahweh’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, for ever.

The feast of Unleavened Bread

12:15 “For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to clean all leaven out of your houses, for anyone who eats leavened bread from the first to the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel.

12:16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred gathering, and again on the seventh day. On those days no work is to be done; you are allowed only to prepare your food.

12:17 The feast of Unleavened Bread must be kept because it was on that same day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Keep that day from age to age: it is an irrevocable ordinance.

12:18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day and until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat unleavened bread.

12:19 For seven days no leaven must be found in your houses, because anyone who eats leavened bread will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he be stranger or native-born.

12:20 You must eat no leavened bread; wherever you live you must eat unleavened bread.”‘

Injunctions relating to the Passover

12:21 Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go and choose animals from the flock on behalf of your families, and kill the Passover victim.

12:22 Then take a spray of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and with the blood from the basin touch the lintel and the two doorposts. Let none of you venture out of the house till morning.

12:23 Then, when Yahweh goes through Egypt to strike it, and sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, he will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to enter your homes and strike.

12:24 You must keep these rules as an ordinance for all time for you and your children.

12:25 When you enter the land that Yahweh is giving you, as he promised, you must keep to this ritual.

12:26 And when your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean?”

12:27 you will tell them, “It is the sacrifice of the Passover in honour of Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, and struck Egypt but spared our houses”.’ And the people bowed down and worshipped.

12:28 The sons of Israel then departed, and they obeyed. They carried out the orders Yahweh had given to Moses and Aaron.

The tenth plague: death of the first-born

12:29 And at midnight Yahweh struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt: the first-born of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, the first-born of the prisoner in his dungeon, and the first-born of all the cattle.

12:30 Pharaoh and all his courtiers and all the Egyptians got up in the night, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without its dead.

12:31 And it was night when Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. ‘Get up,’ he said ‘you and the sons of Israel, and get away from my people. Go and offer worship to Yahweh as you have asked and, as you have asked, take your flocks and herds, and go.

12:32 And also ask a blessing on me.’

12:33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry up and leave the land because, they said, ‘Otherwise we shall all be dead’.

12:34 So the people carried off their dough, still unleavened, on their shoulders, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks.

The Egyptians plundered

12:35 The sons of Israel did as Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for silver ornaments and gold, and for clothing.

12:36 Yahweh gave the people such prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they gave them what they asked. So they plundered the Egyptians.

Israel’s departure

12:37 The sons of Israel left Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand on the march – all men – not counting their families.

12:38 People of various sorts joined them in great numbers; there were flocks, too, and herds in immense droves.

12:39 They baked cakes with the dough which they had brought from Egypt, unleavened because the dough was not leavened; they had been driven out of Egypt, with no time for dallying, and had not provided themselves with food for the journey.[*c]

12:40 The time that the sons of Israel had spent in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

12:41 And on the very day the four hundred and thirty years ended, all the array of Yahweh left the land of Egypt.

12:42 The night, when Yahweh kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt, must be kept as a vigil in honour of Yahweh for all their generations.

Ordinances for the Passover

12:43 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘This is what is ordained for the Passover: No alien may take part in it,

12:44 but any slave bought for money may take part when you have had him circumcised.

12:45 No stranger and no hired servant may take part in it.

12:46 It is to be eaten in one house alone, out of which not a single morsel of the flesh is to be taken; nor must you break any bone of it.

12:47 The whole community of Israel must keep the Passover.

12:48 Should a stranger be staying with you and wish to celebrate the Passover in honour of Yahweh, all the males of his household must be circumcised: he may then be admitted to the celebration, for he becomes as it were a native-born. But no uncircumcised person may take part.

12:49 The same law will run for the native and for the stranger resident among you.’

12:50 The sons of Israel all obeyed. They carried out the orders Yahweh had given to Moses and Aaron.

12:51 And that same day Yahweh brought the sons of Israel in their armies out of Egypt.

JB EXODUS Chapter 13

The first-born

13:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

13:2 ‘Consecrate all the first-born to me, the first issue of every womb, among the sons of Israel. Whether man or beast, this is mine.’

The feast of Unleavened Bread

13:3 Moses said to the people, ‘Keep this day in remembrance, the day you came out of Egypt, from the house of slavery, for it was by sheer power that Yahweh brought you out of it; no leavened bread must be eaten.

13:4 On this day, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt.

13:5 And so, in this same month, when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the land he swore to your fathers he would give you, a land where milk and honey flow, you are to hold this service.

13:6 For seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a feast in honour of Yahweh.

13:7 During these seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten; no leavened bread must be seen among you, no leaven among you in all your territory.

13:8 And on that day you will explain to your son, “This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt”.

13:9 The rite will serve as a sign on your hand would serve, or a memento on your forehead, and in that way the law of Yahweh will be ever on your lips, for Yahweh brought you out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

13:10 You will observe this ordinance each year at its appointed time.

The first-born

13:11 ‘When Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanites – as he swore to you and your fathers he would do – and gives it to you,

13:12 you are to make over to Yahweh all that first issues from the womb, and every first-born cast by your animals: these males belong to Yahweh.

13:13 But every first-born donkey you will redeem with an animal from your flocks. If you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Of your sons, every first-born of men must be redeemed.

13:14 And when your son asks you in days to come, “What does this mean?” you will tell him, “By sheer power Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt, of man and of beast alike. For this I sacrifice to Yahweh every male that first issues from the womb, and redeem every first-born of my sons.”

13:16 The rite will serve as a sign on your hand would serve, or a circlet on your forehead. for Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.’

D. THE CROSSING OF THE SEA OF REEDS

The departure of the Israelites

13:17 When Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not let them take the road to the land of the Philistines, although that was the nearest way. God thought that the prospect of fighting would make the people lose heart and turn back to Egypt.

13:18 Instead, God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. The sons of Israel went out from Egypt fully armed.

13:19 Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had put the sons of Israel on solemn oath. ‘It is sure that God will visit you,’ he had said ‘and when that day comes you must take my bones from here with you.’

13:20 From Succoth they moved on, and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.

13:21 Yahweh went before them, by day in the form of a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in the form of a pillar of fire to give them light: thus they could continue their march by day and by night.

13:22 The pillar of cloud never failed to go before the people during the day, nor the pillar of fire during the night.

JB EXODUS Chapter 14

From Etham to the Sea of Reeds

14:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

14:2 ‘Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and pitch camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, facing Baal-zephon. You are to pitch your camp opposite this place, beside the sea.

14:3 Pharaoh will think, “Look how these sons of Israel wander to and fro in the countryside; the wilderness has closed in on them”.

14:4 Then I shall make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn and he will set out in pursuit of them. But I shall win glory for myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will learn that I am Yahweh.’ And the Israelites did this.

The Egyptians pursue the Israelites

14:5 When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was told that the people had made their escape, he and his courtiers changed their minds about the people. ‘What have we done,’ they said ‘allowing Israel to leave our service?’

14:6 So Pharaoh had his chariot harnessed and gathered his troops about him,

14:7 taking six hundred of the best chariots and all the other chariots in Egypt, each manned by a picked team.

14:8 Yahweh made Pharaoh, king of Egypt, stubborn, and he gave chase to the sons of Israel as they made their triumphant escape.

14:9 So the Egyptians gave chase and came up with them where they lay encamped beside the sea – all the horses, the chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, his army – near Pi-hahiroth, facing Baal-zephon.

14:10 And as Pharaoh approached, the sons of Israel looked round – and there were the Egyptians in pursuit of them! The sons of Israel were terrified and cried out to Yahweh.

14:11 To Moses they said, ‘Were there no graves in Egypt that you must lead us out to die in the wilderness? What good have you done us, bringing us out of Egypt?

14:12 We spoke of this in Egypt, did we not? Leave us alone, we said, we would rather work for the Egyptians! Better to work for the Egyptians than die in the wilderness!’

14:13 Moses answered the people, ‘Have no fear! Stand firm, and you will see what Yahweh will do to save you today: the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

14:14 Yahweh will do the fighting for you: you have only to keep still.’

The crossing

14:15 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me so? Tell the sons of Israel to march on.

14:16 For yourself, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and part it for the sons of Israel to walk through the sea on dry ground.

14:17 I for my part will make the heart of the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow them. So shall I win myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, of all his army, his chariots, his horsemen.

14:18 And when I have won glory for myself, at the expense of Pharaoh and his chariots and his army, the Egyptians will learn that I am Yahweh.’

14:19 Then the angel of Yahweh, who marched at the front of the army of Israel, changed station and moved to their rear. The pillar of cloud changed station from the front to the rear of them, and remained there.

14:20 It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud was dark, and the night passed without the armies drawing any closer the whole night long.

14:21 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. Yahweh drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea. The waters parted

14:22 and the sons of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and to left of them.

14:23 The Egyptians gave chase: after them they went, right into the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

14:24 In the morning watch, Yahweh looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and of cloud, and threw the army into confusion.

14:25 He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway. ‘Let us flee from the Israelites,’ the Egyptians cried ‘Yahweh is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’

14:26 ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,’ Yahweh said to Moses ‘that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen.’

14:27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its bed. The fleeing Egyptians marched right into it, and Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the very middle of the sea.

14:28 The returning waters overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s whole army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left.

14:29 But the sons of Israel had marched through the sea on dry ground, walls of water to right and to left of them.

14:30 That day, Yahweh rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

14:31 Israel witnessed the great act that Yahweh had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated Yahweh; they put their faith in Yahweh and in Moses, his servant.

JB EXODUS Chapter 15

Song of victory

15:1 It was then that Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song in honour of Yahweh: ‘Yahweh I sing: he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

15:2 Yah is my strength, my song, he is my salvation. This is my God, I praise him; the God of my father, I extol him.

15:3 Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is his name.

15:4 The chariots and the army of Pharaoh he has hurled into the sea; the pick of his horsemen lie drowned in the Sea of Reeds.

15:5 The depths have closed over them; they have sunk to the bottom like a stone.

15:7 So great your splendour, you crush your foes; you unleash your fury, and it devours them like stubble.

15:8 A blast from your nostrils and the waters piled high; the waves stood upright like a dyke; in the heart of the sea the deeps came together.

15:9 “I will give chase and overtake,” the enemy said “I shall share out the spoil, my soul will feast on it; I shall draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.”

15:10 One breath of yours you blew, and the sea closed over them; they sank like lead in the terrible waters.

15:11 Who among the gods is your like, Yahweh? Who is your like, majestic in holiness, terrible in deeds of prowess, worker of wonders?

15:12 You stretched your right hand out, the earth swallowed them!

15:13 By your grace you led the people you redeemed, by your strength you guided them to your holy house.

15:14 Hearing of this, the peoples tremble; pangs seize on the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Edom’s chieftains are now dismayed, the princes of Moab fall to trembling, Canaan’s inhabitants are all unmanned.

15:16 On them fall terror and dread; through the power of your arm they are still as stone as your people pass, Yahweh, as the people pass whom you purchased.

15:17 You will bring them and plant them on the mountain that is your own, the place you have made your dwelling, Yahweh, the sanctuary, Yahweh, prepared by your own hands.

15:18 Yahweh will be king for ever and ever.’

15:19 Pharaoh’s cavalry, both his chariots and horsemen, had indeed entered the sea, but Yahweh had made the waters of the sea flow back on them, yet the sons of Israel had marched on dry ground right through the sea.[*a]

15:20 Miriam, the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took up a timbrel, and all the women followed her with timbrels, dancing.

15:21 And Miriam led them in the refrain: ‘Sing of Yahweh: he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea’.

II. ISRAEL IN THE DESERT

Marah[*b]

15:22 Moses made Israel move from their camp at the Sea of Reeds, and they made for the wilderness of Shur where they travelled for three days without finding water.

15:23 They reached Marah but the water there was so bitter they could not drink it; this is why the place was named Marah.

15:24 The people grumbled at Moses. ‘What are we to drink?’ they said.

15:25 So Moses appealed to Yahweh, and Yahweh pointed out some wood to him; this Moses threw into the water, and the water was sweetened. There it was he charged them with statute and with ordinance, there that he put them to the test. Then he said,

15:26 ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commandments and keep his statutes, I shall inflict on you none of the evils that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for it is I, Yahweh, who give you healing’.

15:27 So they came to Elim where twelve water-springs were, and seventy palm trees; and there they pitched their camp beside the water.

JB EXODUS Chapter 16

The manna and the quails

16:1 From Elim they set out again, and the whole community of the sons of Israel reached the wilderness of Sin – between Elim and Sinai – on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt.

16:2 And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness

16:3 and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’

16:4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not.

16:5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, this will be twice as much as the daily gathering.’

16:6 Moses and Aaron said to the whole community of the sons of Israel, ‘In the evening you shall learn that it was Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

16:7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of Yahweh, for he has heard your complaints against him – it is not against us you complain, for what are we?’

16:8 Moses said, ‘In the evening Yahweh will give you meat to eat, in the morning bread to your heart’s content, for Yahweh has heard the complaints you made against him; your complaining is not against us – for what are we? – but against Yahweh’.

16:9 Moses said to Aaron, ‘To the whole community of the sons of Israel say this, “Present yourselves before Yahweh, for he has heard your complaints”‘.

16:10 As Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the sons of Israel, they turned towards the wilderness, and there was the glory of Yahweh appearing in the form of a cloud.

16:11 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

16:12 ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, Yahweh, am your God.”‘

16:13 And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp.

16:14 When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground.

16:15 When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread Yahweh gives you to eat.

16:16 This is Yahweh’s command: Everyone must gather enough of it for his needs, one omer a head, according to the number of persons in your families. Each of you will gather for those who share his tent.’

16:17 The sons of Israel did this. They gathered it, some more, some less.

16:18 When they measured in an omer what they had gathered, the man who had gathered more had not too much, the man who had gathered less had not too little. Each found he had gathered what he needed.

16:19 Moses said to them, ‘No one must keep any of it for tomorrow’.

16:20 But some would not listen to Moses and kept part of it for the following day, and it bred maggots and smelt foul; and Moses was angry with them.

16:21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each according to his needs. And when the sun grew hot, it dissolved.

16:22 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice the amount of food: two omers a head. All the leaders of the community came to tell Moses,

16:23 and he said to them, ‘This is Yahweh’s command: Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a sabbath sacred to Yahweh. Bake what you want to bake, boil what you want to boil; put aside all that is left for tomorrow.’

16:24 So, as Moses ordered, they put it aside for the following day, and its smell was not foul nor were there maggots in it.

16:25 ‘Eat it today,’ Moses said ‘for today is a sabbath in honour of Yahweh; you will find none in the field today.

16:26 For six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day – the sabbath – there will be none.’

16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went from the camp to gather it, but they found none.

16:28 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘How much longer will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

16:29 Listen! Yahweh has laid down the sabbath for you; for this he gives you two day’s food on the sixth day; each of you is to stay where he is; on the seventh day no one is to leave his home.’

16:30 So on the seventh day the people abstained from all work.

16:31 The House of Israel named it ‘manna’. It was like coriander seed; it was white and its taste was like that of wafers made with honey.

16:32 Moses said, ‘This is Yahweh’s command: Fill an omer with it, and let it be kept for your descendants, to let them see the food that I fed you with in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt’.

16:33 Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put in it a full omer of manna and place it before Yahweh, to be kept for your descendants’.

16:34 Accordingly, Aaron put a full omer of manna in the jar, as Yahweh had ordered Moses, and placed the manna before the Testimony,[*a] to be kept there.

16:35 The sons of Israel ate manna for forty years, up to the time they reached inhabited country: they ate manna up to the time they reached the frontier of the land of Canaan.

16:36 An omer is one tenth of an ephah.

JB EXODUS Chapter 17

The water from the rock

17:1 The whole community of the sons of Israel moved from their camp in the desert of Zin at Yahweh’s command, to travel the further stages; and they pitched camp at Rephidim[*a] where there was no water for the people to drink.

17:2 So they grumbled against Moses. ‘Give us water to drink’ they said. Moses answered them. ‘Why do you grumble against me? Why do you put Yahweh to the test?’

17:3 But tormented by thirst, the people complained against Moses. ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt?’ they said. ‘Was it so that I should die of thirst, my children too, and my cattle?’

17:4 Moses appealed to Yahweh. ‘How am I to deal with this people? he said. ‘A little more and they will stone me!’

17:5 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Take with you some of the elders of Israel and move on to the forefront of the people; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the river, and go.

17:6 I shall be standing before you there on the rock, at Horeb. You must strike the rock, and water will flow from it for the people to drink.’ This is what Moses did, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

17:7 The place was named Massah and Meribah[*b] because of the grumbling of the sons of Israel and because they put Yahweh to the test by saying, ‘Is Yahweh with us, or not?’

A battle against the Amalekites

17:8 The Amalekites[*c] came and attacked Israel at Rephidim.

17:9 Moses said to Joshua, ‘Pick out men for yourself, and tomorrow morning march out to engage Amalek. I, meanwhile, will stand on the hilltop, the staff of God in my hand.’

17:10 Joshua did as Moses told him and marched out to engage Amalek, while Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

17:11 As long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage; when he let his arms fall, the advantage went to Amalek.

17:12 But Moses’ arms grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him and on this he sat, Aaron and Hur supporting his arms, one on one side, one on the other; and his arms remained firm till sunset.

17:13 With the edge of the sword Joshua cut down Amalek and his people.

17:14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Write this action down in a book to keep the memory of it, and say in Joshua’s hearing that I shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’

17:15 Moses then built an altar and named it Yahweh-nissi

17:16 because he said, ‘Lay hold of the banner of Yahweh! Yahweh is at war with Amalek from age to age!’

JB EXODUS Chapter 18

The meeting of Jethro and Moses

18:1 Jethro priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and how Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.

18:2 So Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, brought Moses’ wife Zipporah – after she had been dismissed –

18:3 with her two sons. One of these was named Gershom because, he had said, ‘I am a stranger in a foreign land’;

18:4 the name of the other was Eliezer[*a] because ‘The God of my father is my help and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.’

18:5 So Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, came with his son-in-law’s wife and children to the wilderness where his camp was, at the mountain of God.

18:6 ‘Here is your father-in-law, Jethro, come to visit you,’ Moses was told ‘with your wife and her two sons.’

18:7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowing low before him he kissed him; and when each had enquired of the other’s health, they went into the tent.

18:8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and all the hardships that had overtaken them on the way, and how Yahweh had rescued them.

18:9 And Jethro rejoiced at all Yahweh’s goodness to Israel in rescuing them from the Egyptians’ hands.

18:10 ‘Blessed be Yahweh’ said Jethro then ‘who has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, and has rescued the people from the grasp of the Egyptians.

18:11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods…’

18:12 Then Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, offered a holocaust and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to share the meal with the father-in-law of Moses in the presence of God.

The appointment of judges

18:13 On the following day, Moses took his seat to administer justice for the people, and from morning till evening they stood round him.

18:14 Observing what labours he took on himself for the people’s sake, the father-in-law of Moses said to him, ‘Why do you take all this on yourself for the people? Why sit here alone with the people standing round you from morning till evening?’

18:15 Moses answered his father-in-law, ‘Because the people come to me to bring their enquiries to God.

18:16 When they have some dispute they come to me, and I settle the differences between the one and the other and instruct them in God’s statutes and his decisions.’

18:17 ‘It is not right’ the father-in-law of Moses said to him ‘to take this on yourself.

18:18 You will tire yourself out, you and the people with you. The work is too heavy for you. You cannot do it alone.

18:19 Take my advice, and God will be with you. You ought to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him.

18:20 Teach them the statutes and the decisions; show them the way they must follow and what their course must be.

18:21 But choose from the people at large some capable and Godfearing men, trustworthy and incorruptible, and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens.

18:22 Let these be at the service of the people to administer justice at all times. They can refer all difficult questions to you, but all smaller questions they will decide for themselves; so making things easier for you and sharing the burden with you.

18:23 If you do this – and may God so command you – you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.’

18:24 Moses took his father-in-law’s advice and did as he said.

18:25 Moses chose capable men from the ranks of the Israelites and set them over the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens.

18:26 They were at the service of the people to administer justice at all times. They referred hard questions to Moses, and decided smaller questions by themselves.

18:27 Then Moses allowed his father-in-law to go, and he made his way back to his own country.

JB EXODUS Chapter 19

III. THE COVENANT AT SINAI

A. THE COVENANT AND THE DECALOGUE

The Israelites come to Sinai

19:1 Three months after they came out of the land of Egypt… on that day the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai.[*a]

19:2 From Rephidim they set out again; and when they reached the wilderness of Sinai, there in the wilderness they pitched their camp; there facing the mountain Israel pitched camp.

Yahweh promises a covenant

19:3 Moses then went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel,

19:4 “You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.

19:5 From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own for all the earth is mine.

19:6 I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.” Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’

19:7 So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that Yahweh had bidden him.

19:8 Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that Yahweh has said, we will do.’ And Moses took the people’s reply back to Yahweh.

Preparing for the Covenant

19:9 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘I am coming to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear when I speak to you and may trust you always’. And Moses took the people’s reply back to Yahweh.

19:10 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and tell them to prepare themselves today and tomorrow.

19:11 Let them wash their clothing and hold themselves in readiness for the third day, because on the third day Yahweh will descend on the mountain of Sinai in the sight of all the people.

19:12 You will mark out the limits of the mountain and say, “Take care not to go up the mountain or to touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death.

19:13 No one must lay a hand on him: he must be stoned or shot down by arrow, whether man or beast; he must not remain alive.” When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they are to go up the mountain.’

19:14 So Moses came down from the mountain to the people and bade them prepare themselves; and they washed their clothing.

19:15 Then he said to the people, ‘Be ready for the third day; do not go near any woman’.

The theophany on Sinai

19:16 Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled.

19:17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain.

19:18 The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because Yahweh had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently.

19:19 Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder.

19:20 Yahweh came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain; and Moses went up.

19:21 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go down and warn the people not to pass beyond their bounds to come and look on Yahweh, or many of them will lose their lives.

19:22 The priests, the men who do approach Yahweh,[*b] even these must purify themselves, or Yahweh will break out against them.’

19:23 Moses answered Yahweh, ‘The people cannot come up the mountain of Sinai because you warned us yourself when you said, “Mark out the limits of the mountain and declare it sacred”‘.

19:24 ‘Go down,’ said Yahweh to him ‘and come up again bringing Aaron with you. But do not allow the priests or the people to pass beyond their bounds to come up to Yahweh, or he will break out against them.’

19:25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them…

JB EXODUS Chapter 20

The Decalogue[*a]

20:1 Then God spoke all these words. He said,

20:2 ‘I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

20:3 ‘You shall have no gods except me.

20:4 ‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth;

20:5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me;

20:6 but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

20:7 ‘You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it,[*b] for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.

20:8 Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.

20:9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work,

20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath for Yahweh your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you.

20:11 For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why Yahweh has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.

20:12 ‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

20:13 ‘You shall not kill.

20:14 ‘You shall not commit adultery.

20:15 ‘You shall not steal.

20:16 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

20:17 ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’

20:18 [*c] All the people shook with fear at the peals of thunder and the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the smoking mountain; and they kept their distance.

20:19 ‘Speak to us yourself’ they said to Moses ‘and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we shall die.’

20:20 Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid; God has come to test you, so that your fear of him, being always in your mind, may keep you from sinning’.

20:21 So the people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

B. THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT

Law concerning the altar

20:22 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this, “You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

20:23 You shall not make gods of silver or gods of gold to stand beside me; you shall not make things like this for yourselves.

20:24 “You are to make me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on this the holocausts and communion sacrifices from your flocks or herds. In every place in which I have my name remembered I shall come to you and bless you.

20:25 If you make me an altar of stone, do not build it of dressed stones; for if you use a tool on it, you profane it.

20:26 You shall not go up to my altar by steps for fear you expose your nakedness.”

JB EXODUS Chapter 21

Laws concerning slaves

21:1 ‘This is the ruling you are to lay before them:

21:2 “When you buy a Hebrew slave, his service shall be for six years. In the seventh year he may leave; he shall be free, with no compensation to pay.

21:3 If he came single, he shall leave single; if he came married, his wife shall leave with him.

21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons and daughters, wife and children shall belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.

21:5 But if the slave declares, “I love my master and my wife and children; I renounce my freedom”,

21:6 then his master shall take him to God, leading him to the door or the door post. His master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall be in his service for all time.

21:7 If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not regain her liberty like male slaves.

21:8 If she does not please her master who intended her for himself, he must let her be bought back: he has not the right to sell her to foreigners, thus treating her unfairly.

21:9 If he intends her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the ruling for daughters.

21:10 If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food of the first or her clothing or her conjugal rights.

21:11 Should he cheat her of these three things she may leave, freely, without having to pay any money.

Homicide

21:12 “Anyone who strikes a man and so causes his death, must die.

21:13 If he has not lain in wait for him but God has delivered him into his hands,[*a] then I will appoint you a place where he may seek refuge.

21:14 But should a man dare to kill his fellow by treacherous intent, you must take him even from my altar to be put to death.

21:15 “Anyone who strikes his father or mother must die.

21:16 Anyone who abducts a man – whether he has sold him or is found in possession of him – must die.

21:17 Anyone who curses father or mother must die.

Blows and wounds

21:18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the other a blow with stone or fist so that the man, though he does not die, must keep his bed,

21:19 the one who struck the blow shall not be liable provided the other gets up and can go about, even with a stick. He must compensate him, however, for his enforced inactivity, and care for him until he is completely cured.

21:20 “If a man beats his slave, male or female, and the slave dies at his hands, he must pay the penalty.

21:21 But should the slave survive for one or two days, he shall pay no penalty because the slave is his by right of purchase.

21:22 “If, when men come to blows, they hurt a woman who is pregnant and she suffers a miscarriage, though she does not die of it, the man responsible must pay the compensation demanded of him by the woman’s master; he shall hand it over, after arbitration.

21:23 But should she die, you shall give life for life,

21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stroke for stroke.

21:26 “When a man strikes at the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys the use of it, he must give him his freedom to compensate for the eye.

21:27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he must give him his freedom to compensate for the tooth.

21:28 “When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must be stoned. Its flesh shall not be eaten, and the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

21:29 But if the ox has been in the habit of goring before, and if its owner was warned but has not kept it under control, then should this ox kill a man or woman, the ox must be stoned and its owner put to death.

21:30 If a ransom is imposed on him, he must pay whatever is imposed, to redeem his life.

21:31 If the ox gores a boy or a girl, he must be treated in accordance with this same rule.

21:32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner must pay over to their master a sum of money – thirty shekels – and the ox must be stoned.

21:33 “When a man leaves a pit uncovered, or when he digs one but does not cover it, should an ox, or donkey, fall into it,

21:34 then the owner of the pit shall make up for the loss: he must pay its owner money, and the dead animal shall be his own.

21:35 If one man’s ox harms another’s so that it dies, the owners must sell the live ox and share the price of it; they shall also share the dead animal.

21:36 But if it is common knowledge that the ox has been in the habit of goring before, and its owner has not kept it under control, he must repay ox for ox; the dead animal shall be his own.

Theft of animals

21:37 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and then slaughters or sells it, he must pay five oxen for the ox, four sheep for the sheep.

JB EXODUS Chapter 22

22:1 “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck a mortal blow, there is to be no blood-vengeance for him,

22:2 but there shall be blood-vengeance for him if it was after dawn. Full restitution must be made; if he has not the means, he must be sold to pay for what he has stolen.

22:3 If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, ox or donkey or sheep, he must pay double.

Offences demanding compensation

22:4 “When a man puts his animals out to graze in a field or vineyard and lets his beasts graze in another’s field, he must make restitution for the part of the field that has been grazed in proportion to its yield. But if he has let the whole field be grazed, he must make restitution in proportion to the best crop recorded in the injured party’s field or vineyard.

22:5 “When a fire spreads, setting light to thorn bushes and destroying stacked or standing corn or the field itself, the man responsible for the fire must make full restitution.

22:6 “When a man has entrusted money or goods to another’s keeping and these are stolen from his house, the thief, if he can be caught, must repay double.

22:7 Should the thief not be caught; the owner of the house must swear before God that he has not laid hands on the other man’s property.

22:8 “Whenever there is breach of trust in the matter of ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any lost property for which it is claimed ‘Yes, this is it’, the dispute shall be brought before God. The person whom God pronounces guilty[*a] must pay double to the other.

22:9 “When a man has entrusted to another’s keeping a donkey, ox, sheep, or any beast whatever, and this dies or is injured or carried off, without a witness,

22:10 an oath by Yahweh shall decide between the two parties whether one man has laid hands on the other’s property or not. The owner shall take what remains, the other shall not have to make good the loss.

22:11 But if the animal has been from him, he must make restitution to the owner.

22:12 If it has been savaged by wild beasts, he must bring the savaged remains of the animal as evidence, and he shall not be obliged to give compensation.

22:13 “When a man borrows an animal from another, and it is injured or dies in the owner’s absence, the borrower must make full restitution.

22:14 But if the owner has been present, the borrower will not have to make good the loss. If the owner has hired it out, he shall settle for the price of its hire.

Violation of a virgin

22:15 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and sleeps with her, he must pay her price[*b] and make her his wife.

22:16 If her father absolutely refuses to let him have her, the seducer must pay a sum of money equal to the price fixed for a virgin.

Moral and religious laws

22:17 “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

22:18 “Anyone who has intercourse with an animal must die.

22:19 “Anyone who sacrifices to other gods shall come under the ban.

22:20 “You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.

22:21 You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan;

22:22 if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry;

22:23 my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans.

22:24 “If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him.

22:25 “If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset.

22:26 It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.

22:27 “You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people.

First-fruits and first-born

22:28 “Do not be slow to make offering from the abundance of your threshing floor and your winepress. You must give me the first-born of your sons;

22:29 you must do the same with your flocks and herds. The first-born must remain with its mother for seven days; on the eighth day you must give it to me.

22:30 “You are to be men consecrated to me. You must not eat the flesh of an animal that has been savaged by wild beasts; you must throw it to the dogs.

JB EXODUS Chapter 23

Justice. Duties towards enemies

23:1 “You must not make false assertions. You must not support a guilty man by giving malicious evidence.

23:2 You must not take the side of the greater number in the cause of wrong-doing nor side with the majority and give evidence in a lawsuit in defiance of justice;

23:3 nor in a lawsuit must you show partiality to the poor.

23:4 “If you come on your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you must lead it back to him.

23:5 If you see the donkey of a man who hates you fallen under its load, instead of keeping out of his way, go to him to help him.

23:6 “You must not cheat any poor man of yours of his rights at law.

23:7 Keep out of trumped-up cases. See that the man who is innocent and just is not done to death, and do not acquit the guilty.

23:8 You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds clear-sighted men and is the ruin of the just man’s cause.

23:9 “You must not oppress the stranger; you know how a stranger feels, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.

The sabbatical year and the sabbath

23:10 “For six years you may sow your land and gather its produce,

23:11 but in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and forego all produce from it. Those of your people who are poor may take food from it, and let the wild animals feed on what they leave. You shall do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

23:12 “For six days you shall do your work, but stop on the seventh day, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your slave girl have a breathing space, and the stranger too.

23:13 “Take notice of all I have told you and do not repeat the name of other gods: let it not be heard from your lips.

The great feasts

23:14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast in my honour.

23:15 You must celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread: you must eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. And no one must come before me empty-handed.

23:16 The feast of Harvest, too, you must celebrate, the feast of the first-fruits of the produce of your sown fields; the feast of Ingathering also, at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labours from the fields.

23:17 Three times a year all your menfolk must present themselves before the Lord Yahweh.

23:18 “You must not offer unleavened bread with the blood of the victim sacrificed to me, nor put by the fat of my festal victim for the following day.

23:19 “You must bring the best of the first-fruits of your soil to the house of Yahweh your God. “You must not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.[*a]

Preparatory promises and instructions for the entry into Canaan

23:20 “I myself will send an angel before you to guard you as you go and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

23:21 Give him reverence and listen to all that he says. Offer him no defiance; he would not pardon such a fault, for my name is in him.

23:22 If you listen carefully to his voice and do all that I say, I shall be enemy to your enemies, foe to your foes.

23:23 My angel will go before you and lead you to where the Amorites are and the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites; I shall exterminate these.

23:24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them; you must not do as they do: you must destroy their gods utterly and smash their standing-stones.[*b]

23:25 You are to worship Yahweh your God, and I shall bless your bread and water, and remove sickness from among you.

23:26 In your land no woman will miscarry, none be barren. I shall give you your full term of life.

23:27 “I shall spread panic ahead of you; I shall throw into confusion all the people you encounter; I shall make all your enemies turn and run from you.

23:28 I shall send hornets in front of you to drive Hivite and Canaanite and Hittite from your presence.

23:29 I shall not drive them out before you in a single year, or the land would become a desert where, to your cost, the wild beasts would multiply.

23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you until your numbers grow and you come into possession of the land.

23:31 For your frontiers I shall fix the Sea of Reeds and the Philistine sea, the desert and the river;[*c] yes, I shall deliver the inhabitants of the country into your hands, and you will drive them out before you.

23:32 You must make no pact with them or with their gods.

23:33 They must not live in your country or they will make you sin against me; you would come to worship their gods, and that would be a snare for you indeed!”‘

JB EXODUS Chapter 24

C. THE COVENANT RATIFIED

24:1 To Moses he had said, ‘Come up to Yahweh, yourself and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel and bow down in worship at a distance.

24:2 Moses alone must approach Yahweh; the others must not, nor must the people go up with him.’

24:3 Moses went and told the people all the commands of Yahweh and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that Yahweh has decreed’.

24:4 Moses put all the commands of Yahweh into writing, and early next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

24:5 Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to Yahweh as communion sacrifices.

24:6 Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the altar.

24:7 And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and they said, ‘We will observe all that Yahweh has decreed; we will obey.’

24:8 Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people. ‘This’ he said ‘is the blood of the Covenant that Yahweh has made with you, containing all these rules.’

24:9 Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel.

24:10 They saw the God of Israel beneath whose feet there was, it seemed, a sapphire pavement pure as the heavens themselves.

24:11 He laid no hand on these notables of the sons of Israel: they gazed on God. They ate and they drank.

Moses on the mountain

24:12 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay there while I give you the stone tablets – the law and the commandments – that I have written for their instruction’.

24:13 Accordingly Moses rose, he and his servant Joshua, and they went up the mountain of God.

24:14 To the elders he had said, ‘Wait here for us until we come back to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; if anyone has a difference to settle, let him go to them.’

24:15 And Moses went up the mountain. The cloud covered the mountain,

24:16 and the glory of Yahweh settled on the mountain of Sinai; for six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day Yahweh called to Moses from inside the cloud.

24:17 To the eyes of the sons of Israel the glory of Yahweh seemed like a devouring fire on the mountain top.

24:18 Moses went right into the cloud. He went up the mountain, and stayed there for forty days and forty nights.

JB EXODUS Chapter 25

IV. INSTRUCTIONS ON THE BUILDING OF THE SANCTUARY AND ON ITS MINISTERS[*a]

Contributions for the sanctuary

25:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

25:2 ‘Tell the sons of Israel to set aside a contribution for me; you shall accept this contribution from every man whose heart prompts him to give it.

25:3 You shall accept from them the following contributions: gold, silver and bronze;

25:6 oil for the lamps, spices for the chrism and for the fragrant incense;

25:7 onyx stones and gems to be set in ephod and pectoral.

25:8 Build me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them.

25:9 In making the tabernacle and its furnishings you must follow exactly the pattern I shall show you.

The tabernacle and its furnishings. The ark

25:10 ‘You are to make me an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high.[*b]

25:11 You are to plate it, inside and out, with pure gold, and decorate it all round with a gold moulding.

25:12 You will cast four gold rings for the ark and fix them to its four supports: two rings on one side and two rings on the other.

25:13 You will also make shafts of acacia wood plated with gold

25:14 and pass the shafts through the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark by these.

25:15 The shafts must remain in the rings of the ark and not be withdrawn.

25:16 Inside the ark you will place the Testimony that I shall give you.

25:17 ‘Further, you are to make a throne of mercy, of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.

25:18 For the two ends of this throne of mercy you are to make two golden cherubs;[*c] you are to make them of beaten gold.

25:19 Make the first cherub for one end and the second for the other, and fasten them to the two ends of the throne of mercy so that they make one piece with it.

25:20 The cherubs are to have their wings spread upwards so that they overshadow the throne of mercy. They must face one another, their faces towards the throne of mercy.

25:21 You must place the throne of mercy on the top of the ark. Inside the ark you must place the Testimony that I shall give you.

25:22 There I shall come to meet you; there, from above the throne of mercy, from between the two cherubs that are on the ark of the Testimony, I shall give you all my commands for the sons of Israel.

The table for the offertory bread

25:23 ‘You are to make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.

25:24 You are to plate it with pure gold, and decorate it all round with a gold moulding.

25:25 You are to fit it with struts, one hand’s breadth wide, and decorate these with a golden moulding.

25:26 You are to make for it four gold rings and fix these at the four corners where the four legs are.

25:27 The rings must lie close to the struts to hold the shafts for carrying the table.

25:28 You are to make the shafts of acacia wood and plate them with gold. The table is to be carried by these.

25:29 You are to make dishes, cups, jars and libation bowls for it; you are to make these of pure gold.

25:30 On the table; before me, you must place the bread of continual offering.

The lamp-stand

25:31 ‘You are to make a lamp-stand of pure gold; the lamp-stand must be of beaten gold, base and stem. Its cups – calyx and petals – must be of one piece with it.

25:32 Six branches must extend from the sides of it, three from one side, three from the other.

25:33 The first branch is to carry three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals; the second branch, too, is to carry three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals, and similarly for all six branches extending from the lamp-stand.

25:34 The lamp-stand itself is to carry four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals,

25:35 thus: one calyx under the first two branches extending from the lamp-stand, one under the next pair, one under the last pair: corresponding to the six branches extending from the lamp-stand.

25:36 The calyxes and the branches must be of one piece with the lamp-stand, and the whole made from a single piece of pure gold, beaten out.

25:37 Then you are to make lamps for it, seven of them, and set them so that they throw their light towards the front of it.

25:38 The snuffers and trays must be of pure gold.

25:39 You are to use a talent of pure gold for making the lamp-stand and all its accessories.

25:40 See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

JB EXODUS Chapter 26
The tabernacle. Fabrics and hangings

26:1 The tabernacle itself you are to make with ten sheets of fine twined linen, of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and of crimson stuffs; you are to have these sheets finely brocaded with cherubs.

26:2 The length of a single sheet is to be twenty-eight cubits, its width four cubits, all the sheets to be of the same size.

26:3 Five of the sheets must be joined to each other, and the other five similarly.

26:4 You must attach loops of violet stuff to the border of the last sheet in one set, and do the same for the border of the last sheet in the other set.

26:5 You are to put fifty loops on the first sheet and, matching them one by one, fifty loops on the border of the last sheet in the second set.

26:6 And you are to make fifty gold clasps to draw the sheets together. In this way the tabernacle will be a unified whole.

26:7 ‘You are to make sheets of goats’ hair to form a tent over the tabernacle; you will make eleven of these.

26:8 The length of a single sheet is to be thirty cubits, its width four cubits, the eleven sheets to be all of the same size.

26:9 You must join five of these sheets together into one set, the remaining six into another; the sixth you will fold double over the front of the tent.

26:10 You must attach fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in one set, and do the same for the border of the last sheet in the second set.

26:11 You must make fifty bronze clasps and put them into the loops, so as to draw the tent together and make it a unified whole.

26:12 ‘As one sheet of the tent will be left over, half of this extra sheet is to hang over the back of the tabernacle.

26:13 The extra cubit on either side along the length of the tent sheets is to hang over the sides of the tabernacle as a covering for it.

26:14 ‘For the tent you will further make a covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather to spread over that.

The framework

26:15 ‘You are to make frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle, these to stand upright.

26:16 Each frame is to be ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

26:17 Each frame must be fitted with twin tenons; for all the frames of the tabernacle you must do this.

26:18 You are to make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the southern side, facing the south country.

26:19 You are to make forty silver sockets for putting under the twenty frames thus: two sockets under the first frame to receive its two tenons, and so on for the other frames.

26:20 The other side of the tabernacle, on the north, is to have twenty frames

26:21 supported by forty silver sockets, two sockets under each frame.

26:22 For the back of the tabernacle, on the west, you must make six frames.

26:23 You are to make two frames for the corners at the back of the tabernacle.

26:24 These frames must be coupled at their lower end and so to the top, up to the level of the first ring; this for the two frames that are to form the two corners.

26:25 Thus there will be eight frames with their sixteen silver sockets: two sockets under the first frame and so on.

26:26 ‘You are to make crossbars of acacia wood: five to hold together the frames for one side of the tabernacle,

26:27 five to hold the frames for the other side of the tabernacle, and five to hold the frames that form the west end of the tabernacle.

26:28 The middle bar, fixed half-way up, is to run from one end to the other.

26:29 The frames are to be plated with gold, and with gold rings on them to take the cross-bars which you are to plate with gold.

26:30 This is how you are to erect the tabernacle according to the model shown to you on the mountain.

The veil

26:31 ‘You are to make a veil of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, of crimson stuffs, and of fine twined linen; you are to have it finely embroidered with cherubs.

26:32 You are to hang it on four posts of acacia wood plated with gold and furnished with golden hooks and set in four silver sockets.

26:33 You must hang the veil from the clasps and there behind the veil you must place the ark of the Testimony, and the veil will serve you to separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.

26:34 The throne of mercy you must place on top of the ark inside the Holy of Holies.

26:35 The table you must set outside the veil, and the lamp-stand on the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table. You must put the table on the north side.

26:36 For the entrance to the tent you are to make a screen of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and of crimson stuffs and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer.

26:37 For this screen you are to make five posts of acacia wood plated with gold, with golden hooks; for these you are to cast five bronze sockets.

JB EXODUS Chapter 27

The altar of holocaust

27:1 ‘You are to make the altar out of acacia wood, a square five cubits long and five cubits wide, its height to be three cubits.

27:2 At its four corners you are to put horns, the horns to be of one piece with it, plating it with bronze.

27:3 For the altar you are to make pans for the ashes from the fat, shovels, sprinkling basins, hooks, fire pans; you must make all the vessels for the altar out of bronze.

27:4 You are also to make a grating for it of bronze network, and on the four corners of this fix four bronze rings.

27:5 This grating you must set under the altar’s ledge, below, so that it reaches half-way up the altar.

27:6 And for the altar you are to make shafts of acacia wood and plate them with bronze.

27:7 These are to be passed through the rings, so that they are on either side of the altar when it is carried.

27:8 You are to make the altar hollow, of boards; you will make it in the way that was shown to you on the mountain.

The court

27:9 ‘You are to make the court of the tabernacle. Facing the south country, on the southern side, the hangings of the court are to be of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits long for one side.

27:10 Their twenty bronze posts are to be set in twenty bronze sockets and to have their hooks and rods of silver.

27:11 So too for the northern side there are to be hangings one hundred cubits long, and twenty posts set in twenty bronze sockets, with their hooks and rods of silver.

27:12 Across the width of the court, on the western side, there are to be fifty cubits of hangings, carried on ten posts set in ten sockets.

27:13 The width of the court on the eastern side facing the sunrise is to be fifty cubits.

27:14 On one side of the gateway there are to be fifteen cubits of hangings, carried on three posts set in three sockets.

27:15 On the other side of the gateway there are also to be fifteen cubits of hangings, carried on three posts set in three sockets.

27:16 The gateway to the court is to consist of a screen twenty cubits wide made of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, of crimson stuffs and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer, carried on four posts set in their four sockets.

27:17 All the posts enclosing the court are to be connected by silver rods; their hooks are to be of silver, their sockets of bronze.

27:18 The length of the court is to be one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, its height five cubits. All the hangings are to be made of fine twined linen, and their sockets of bronze.

27:19 All the furnishings for whatever use in the tabernacle, all the pegs of it and of the court, must be of bronze.

The oil for the lamps

27:20 ‘You are to order the sons of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for the light, and to keep a flame burning there perpetually.

27:21 Aaron and his sons are to set this flame in the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is before the Testimony. It must burn there before Yahweh from evening to morning perpetually. This is an irrevocable ordinance for their descendants, to be kept by the sons of Israel.

JB EXODUS Chapter 28

The priestly vestments

28:1 From among the sons of Israel summon your brother Aaron and his sons to be priests in my service: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, sons of Aaron.

28:2 For Aaron your brother you are to make sacred vestments to give dignity and magnificence.

28:3 You are to instruct all the ablest craftsmen, whose ability I have given them, to make Aaron’s vestments for his consecration to my priesthood.

28:4 These are the vestments they must make: pectoral, ephod, robe, embroidered tunic, turban and girdle. They are to make sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons to be priests in my service.

28:6 ‘They are to make the ephod of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer.

28:7 It must have two shoulder-straps fitted to it to join its two ends together.

28:8 The woven band on it to hold it is to be of similar workmanship and form one piece with it: this must be of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen.

28:9 You will then take two onyx stones and engrave them with the names of the sons of Israel,

28:10 six of their names on one stone, the remaining six on the other, in the order of their birth.

28:11 With the art of a jeweller, of an engraver of seals, you are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel, and mount them in settings of gold mesh.

28:12 You are to fasten the two stones commemorating the sons of Israel to the shoulder-straps of the ephod. In this way Aaron will bear their names on his shoulders in the presence of Yahweh, so as to commemorate them.

28:13 You must also make golden rosettes,

28:14 and two chains of pure gold twisted like cord; you are to attach these cord-like

chains to the rosettes.

The pectoral of judgement

28:15 ‘You are to make the pectoral of judgement, finely brocaded, of the same workmanship as the ephod. You are to make it of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen.

28:16 It is to be square and doubled over, a span in length and a span in width.

28:17 In this you are to set four rows of stones. Sard, topaz, carbuncle, for the first row;

28:18 emerald, sapphire, diamond the second row;

28:19 the third row, hyacinth, ruby, amethyst;

28:20 the fourth row, beryl, onyx, jasper. These are to be mounted in gold settings.

28:21 They are to bear the names of the sons of Israel and, like the names on them, are to be twelve in number. They are to be engraved like seals, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

28:22 For the pectoral you will make chains of pure gold twisted like cords.

28:23 For the pectoral you must make two gold rings and fix them to its two upper corners.

28:24 You must fasten the two gold cords to the two rings fixed on the corners of the pectoral.

28:25 The other two ends of the cords you must fasten to the two rosettes, so that they will be attached to the shoulder-straps of the ephod, on the front.

28:26 You are to make two gold rings and fix them to the two lower corners of the pectoral, on the inner hem, next to the ephod.

28:27 You are to make two more gold rings and fix them low down on the front of the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod, close to the join, above the woven band of the ephod.

28:28 You must secure the pectoral by passing a ribbon of violet-purple through its rings and those of the ephod, so that the pectoral will sit above the woven band and not come apart from the ephod.

28:29 Thus by means of the pectoral of judgement, when Aaron enters the sanctuary, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel on his breast to call them to mind continually in the presence of Yahweh.

28:30 To the pectoral of judgement you will add the Urim and the Thummim so that Aaron may have them on his breast when he goes into Yahweh’s presence. Thus in the presence of Yahweh Aaron will continually bear on his breast the oracle of the sons of Israel.

The robe

28:31 ‘You are to make the robe of the ephod entirely of violet-purple.

28:32 In the centre it must have an opening for the head, the opening to have round it a border woven like the neck of a coat of mail to keep the robe from being torn.

28:33 The lower hem you are to decorate with pomegranates of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen, with golden bells between:

28:34 gold bells and pomegranates alternately all round the lower hem of the robe.

28:35 Aaron is to wear it when he officiates, so that the tinkling of the bells will be heard whenever he enters the sanctuary into Yahweh’s presence, or leaves it; thus he will not die.

The diadem

28:36 ‘You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it “Consecrated to Yahweh” as a man engraves a seal.

28:37 You will secure this to the turban with a ribbon of violet-purple; it is to be placed on the front of the turban.

28:38 Aaron is to wear it on his brow, and so take on himself any shortcomings there may be in what the sons of Israel consecrate in any of their sacred offerings. Aaron must always wear it on his brow, to draw down on them the goodwill of Yahweh.

28:39 The tunic you must weave of fine linen, and make a turban of fine linen, and a girdle, the work of a skilled embroiderer.

The vestments of the priests

28:40 ‘For the sons of Aaron you are to make tunic and girdle and head-dress to give dignity and magnificence.

28:41 You will put these on your brother Aaron and his sons. You will then anoint and invest and consecrate them to serve me in the priesthood.

28:42 You are to make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from loin to thigh.

28:43 Aaron and his sons must wear these when they go into the Tent of Meeting and when they approach the altar to serve in the sanctuary, as a precaution against incurring some fault that would mean death. This is an irrevocable ordinance for Aaron and for his descendants after him.

JB EXODUS Chapter 29

The consecration of Aaron and his sons. Preparations

29:1 ‘This is the ritual you must use for them when you consecrate them to serve me in the priesthood. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,

29:3 You must put these into a basket and present them in the basket, at the same time as the young bull and the two rams.

Their purification, clothing, and anointing

29:4 ‘You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and they are to be bathed.

29:5 Take the vestments and dress Aaron in the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the pectoral, and gird him with the woven band of the ephod.

29:6 Put the turban on his head, and on the turban fix the sacred diadem.

29:7 Then take the chrism and pour it on his head, and so anoint him.

29:8 ‘Next, bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.

29:9 Pass the girdles round their waists and put the head-dresses on their heads. And by irrevocable ordinance the priesthood will be theirs. This is how you are to invest Aaron and his sons.

The offerings

29:10 ‘You are to bring the bull in front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head.

29:11 Immolate the bull there before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

29:12 Then take some of its blood and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar. Next, pour out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar.

29:13 And then take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty mass which is over the liver, the two kidneys with their covering fat, and burn them on the altar.

29:14 As for the bull’s flesh, its skin and its dung, you must burn them outside the camp, for it is a sin-offering.

29:15 ‘Next you are to take one of the rams. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head.

29:16 You are to immolate the ram, take up its blood and pour it out on the surrounds of the altar.

29:17 Next, divide the ram in pieces and wash the entrails and legs and put them on top of the pieces and the head.

29:18 Then burn the whole ram on the altar. This will be a burnt offering whose fragrance will appease Yahweh; it will be a holocaust in honour of Yahweh.

29:19 ‘Next you are to take the other ram. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head.

29:20 You are to immolate the ram, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet, and pour out the rest of the blood on the surrounds of the altar.

29:21 Then take some of the blood that remains on the altar, together with the chrism, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and their vestments: so that he and his vestments will be consecrated and his sons too, and their vestments.

The investiture of the priests

29:22 ‘You are to take the fatty parts of the ram: the tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty mass which is over the liver; the two kidneys with their covering fat and also the right thigh, for this is a ram of investiture.

29:23 You are to take a loaf of bread, a cake of bread made with oil, and a wafer, from the basket of unleavened bread placed before Yahweh,

29:24 and put it all into Aaron’s hands and those of his sons and make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

29:25 Then you are to take them back and burn them on the altar, on top of the holocaust, an appeasing fragrance before Yahweh. This will be a holocaust in honour of Yahweh.

29:26 ‘You are to take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s investiture and make the gesture of offering before Yahweh; this is to be your portion.

29:27 You are to consecrate the breast that has been thus offered, as also the thigh that is set aside – the breast, that is, which has been offered and the thigh that has been set aside from the ram of investiture of Aaron and his sons.

29:28 This, by perpetual law, will be the portion that Aaron and his sons are to receive from the sons of Israel, since it is the portion set aside, a portion the sons of Israel are to set aside from their communion sacrifices, the portion they owe to Yahweh.

29:29 ‘Aaron’s sacred vestments are to pass to his sons after him, and they will wear them for their anointing and investiture.

29:30 The son of Aaron who succeeds him in the priesthood and enters the Tent of Meeting to serve in the sanctuary must wear them for seven days.

The sacred meal

29:31 ‘You are to take the ram of investiture and cook its meat in a holy place.

29:32 Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram, and also the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

29:33 They are to eat what was used in making atonement for them at their investiture; their consecration. No layman may eat these; they are holy things.

29:34 If any of the meat from the investiture sacrifice, or the bread, should be left till morning, you must put what is left in the fire. It is not to be eaten; it is a holy thing.

29:35 For Aaron and his sons you are to do exactly as I have commanded you: you are to take seven days over their investiture.

The consecration of the altar of holocaust

29:36 ‘On each of the days you are also to offer a bull as a sacrifice for sin, in atonement; by offering an atonement sacrifice for sin you will take away sin from the altar; then you must anoint it, and so consecrate it.

29:37 For seven days you are to repeat the atonement sacrifice for the altar and consecrate it. So it will excel in holiness, and whatever touches it will be holy.

The daily holocaust

29:38 ‘This is what you are to offer on the altar: two yearling lambs each day in perpetuity.

29:39 The first lamb you must offer in the morning, the second between the two evenings.

29:40 With the first lamb you must offer one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one quarter of a hin of purest oil and, for a libation, one quarter of a hin of wine.

29:41 The second lamb you must offer between the two evenings; do this with the same oblation and the same libation as in the morning, as an appeasing fragrance, an offering burnt in honour of Yahweh.

29:42 This is to be a perpetual holocaust from generation to generation, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Yahweh; that is where I shall meet you and speak to you.

29:43 ‘I will meet the sons of Israel in the place consecrated by my glory.

29:44 I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will consecrate Aaron too, and his sons, to be priests in my service.

29:45 I will remain with the sons of Israel, and I will be their God.

29:46 And so they will know that it is I, Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to live among them: I, Yahweh their God.

JB EXODUS Chapter 30

The altar of incense

30:1 ‘You must make an altar on which to burn incense;[*a] you are to make it out of acacia wood.

30:2 It is to be one cubit long, and one cubit wide – that is to say, square – and to stand two cubits high; its horns are to be of one piece with it.

30:3 The top of it, its surrounding sides, and its horns, are to be plated with pure gold, and decorated with a gold moulding all round.

30:4 You are to fix two gold rings to it below the moulding on its two opposite sides: these are to take the shafts used for carrying it.

30:5 These shafts you must make of acacia wood and plate with gold.

30:6 You are to set up the altar before the veil that is in front of the ark of Testimony, opposite the throne of mercy that covers the Testimony, the place appointed for my meeting with you.

30:7 There Aaron must burn fragrant incense each morning when he trims the lamps,

30:8 and between the two evenings, when Aaron puts the lamps back, he must burn it again. You must make these offerings of incense before Yahweh unfailingly from generation to generation.

30:9 You must not offer profane incense on it, no holocaust, no oblation; and you must pour no libation on it.

30:10 Once a year Aaron is to perform the rite of atonement on the horns of the altar; with the blood of the sacrifice offered for sin he is to perform the rite of atonement once a year. And you shall do the same in the generations to come. This altar of supreme holiness is to be consecrated to Yahweh’.

The poll tax

30:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

30:12 ‘When you take a census and make a register of the sons of Israel, each is to pay Yahweh a ransom for his life, so that no plague comes on them when the census is being made.

30:13 Everyone subject to the census must pay half a shekel, reckoning by the sanctuary shekel which is twenty gerahs, and this half-shekel shall be set aside for Yahweh.

30:14 Everyone subject to the census, that is to say of twenty years and over, must pay the sum set aside for Yahweh.

30:15 The rich man is not to give more, nor the poor man less, than half a shekel as payment of the sum set aside for Yahweh, the ransom for your lives.

30:16 You will devote this ransom money given to you by the sons of Israel to the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will remind Yahweh of the sons of Israel and will be the ransom for your lives’.

The bronze basin

30:17 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

30:18 ‘You must also make a bronze basin on a stand, for washing. You must place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it.

30:19 In this Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet.

30:20 When they are to enter the Tent of Meeting they must wash in water for fear they die, and when they have to approach the altar for their service, to burn the offering burnt in honour of Yahweh.

30:21 They must wash their hands and feet for fear they die. This is a lasting ordinance for them, for Aaron and his descendants from generation to generation’.

The chrism[*b]

30:22 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

30:23 ‘Take the choicest spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, half this weight of fragrant cinnamon – that is, two hundred and fifty shekels – and of scented cane two hundred and fifty shekels;

30:24 of cassia five hundred shekels (reckoning by the sanctuary shekel) and one hin of olive oil.

30:25 These you are to compound into a holy chrism, such a blend as the perfumer might make; it is to be a holy chrism.

30:26 With it you are to anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Testimony,

30:27 the table and all its furnishings, the lamp-stand and all its accessories, the altar of incense,

30:28 the altar of holocaust with all its furnishings, and the basin with its stand.

30:29 These you are to consecrate. Thus they will excel in holiness, and whatever touches them will be holy.

30:30 You must also anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they may be priests in my service.

30:31 Then you are to say this to the sons of Israel, ‘You must hold this chrism holy from generation to generation.

30:32 It is not to be poured on the bodies of common men, nor are you to make any other of the same mixture. It is a holy thing; you must consider it holy.

30:33 Whoever copies the composition of it or uses it on a layman shall be outlawed from his people”‘.

30:35 and compound an incense, such a blend as the perfumer might make, salted, pure, and holy.

30:36 Crush a part of it into a fine powder, and put some of this in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, the place appointed for my meetings with you. You must regard it as most holy.

30:37 You are not to make any incense of similar composition for your own use. You must hold it to be a holy thing, reserved for Yahweh. Whoever copies it for use as perfume shall be outlawed from his people’.

JB EXODUS Chapter 31

The craftsmen for the sanctuary

31:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

31:2 ‘See, I have singled out Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

31:3 I have filled him with the spirit of God and endowed him with skill and perception and knowledge for every kind of craft:

31:4 for the art of designing and working in gold and silver and bronze;

31:5 for cutting stones to be set, for carving in wood, for every kind of craft.

31:6 Here and now I give him a partner, Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and to all the men that have skill I have given more, for them to carry out all that I have commanded you:

31:7 the Tent of Meeting; the ark of the Testimony; the throne of mercy that covers it, and all the furniture of the tent;

31:8 the table and all its furnishings; the pure lamp-stand and all its accessories; the altar of incense;

31:9 the altar of holocaust with all its furnishings; the basin with its stand;

31:10 the sumptuous vestments – sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, and vestments for his sons – for the priestly functions;

31:11 the chrism and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. In this they are to do exactly as I have directed you’.

The sabbath rest

31:12 Yahweh said this to Moses,

31:13 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say, “You must keep my sabbaths carefully, because the sabbath is a sign between myself and you from generation to generation to show that it is I, Yahweh, who sanctify you.

31:14 You must keep the sabbath, then; it is to be held sacred by you. The man who profanes it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day shall be outlawed from his people.

31:15 Work is to be done for six days, but the seventh day must be a day of complete rest, consecrated to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the sabbath day must be put to death.

31:16 The sons of Israel are to keep the sabbath, observing it from generation to generation: this is a lasting covenant.

31:17 Between myself and the sons of Israel the sabbath is a sign for ever, since in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and drew breath”‘.

The tablets of the Law committed to Moses

31:18 When he had finished speaking with Moses on the mountain of Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

JB EXODUS Chapter 32

V. ISRAEL’S APOSTASY. THE COVENANT RENEWED

The golden calf

32:1 When the people saw that Moses was a long time before coming down the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god to go at the head of us; this Moses, the man who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’.

32:2 Aaron answered them, ‘Take the gold rings out of the ears of your wives and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me’.

32:3 So they all took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.

32:4 He took them from their hands and, in a mould, melted the metal down and cast an effigy of a calf. ‘Here is your God, Israel,’ they cried ‘who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’

32:5 Observing this, Aaron built an altar before the effigy. ‘Tomorrow’ he said ‘will be a feast in honour of Yahweh.’

32:6 And so, early the next day they offered holocausts and brought communion sacrifices; then all the people sat down to eat and drink, and afterwards got up to amuse themselves.

Moses forewarned by Yahweh

32:7 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, ‘Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostasised.

32:8 They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. “Here is your God, Israel,” they have cried “who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”‘

32:9 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘I can see how headstrong these people are!

32:10 Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’

The prayer of Moses

32:11 But Moses pleaded with Yahweh his God. ‘Yahweh,’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm outstretched and mighty hand?

32:12 Why let the Egyptians say, “Ah, it was in treachery that he brought them out, to do them to death in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth”? Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster on your people.

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I promised I will give to your descendants, and it shall be their heritage for ever.’

32:14 So Yahweh relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Moses breaks the tablets of the Law

32:15 Moses made his way back down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, tablets inscribed on both sides, inscribed on the front and on the back.

32:16 These tablets were the work of God, and the writing on them was God’s writing engraved on the tablets.

32:17 Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. ‘There is the sound of battle in the camp’, he told Moses.

32:18 Moses answered him: ‘No song of victory is this sound, no wailing for defeat this sound; it is the sound of chanting that I hear’.

32:19 As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the groups dancing, Moses’ anger blazed. He threw down the tablets he was holding and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

32:20 He seized the calf they had made and burned it, grinding it into powder which he scattered on the water; and he made the sons of Israel drink it.[*a]

32:21 To Aaron Moses said, ‘What has this people done to you, for you to bring such a great sin on them?’

32:22 ‘Let not my lord’s anger blaze like this’ Aaron answered. ‘You know yourself how prone this people is to evil.

32:23 They said to me, “Make us a god to go at our head; this Moses, the man who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has become of him”.

32:24 So I said to them, “Who has gold?”, and they took it off and brought it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.’

The zeal of the Levites

32:25 When Moses saw the people so out of hand – for Aaron had allowed them to lapse into idolatry with enemies all round them –

32:26 he stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, ‘Who is for Yahweh? To me!’ And all the sons of Levi rallied to him.

32:27 And he said to them, ‘This is the message of Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Gird on your sword, every man of you, and quarter the camp from gate to gate, killing one his brother, another his friend, another his neighbour”‘.

32:28 The sons of Levi carried out the command of Moses, and of the people about three thousand men perished that day.

32:29 ‘Today’ Moses said ‘you have won yourselves investiture as priests of Yahweh at the cost, one of his son, another of his brother; and so he grants you a blessing today.’

Moses prays again

32:30 On the following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. But now I shall go up to Yahweh: perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’

32:31 And Moses returned to Yahweh. ‘I am grieved,’ he cried ‘this people has committed a grave sin, making themselves a god of gold.

32:32 And yet, if it pleased you to forgive this sin of theirs…! But if not, then blot me out from the book that you have written.’

32:33 Yahweh answered Moses, ‘It is the man who has sinned against me that I shall blot out from my book.

32:34 Go now, lead the people to the place of which I told you. My angel shall go before you but, on the day of my visitation, I shall punish them for their sin.’

32:35 And Yahweh punished the people for moulding the calf that Aaron had made.

JB EXODUS Chapter 33

The Israelites ordered to depart

33:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Leave this place, with the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I would give their descendants.

33:2 I will send an angel in front of you; I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites.

33:3 Go on to the land where milk and honey flow. I shall not go with you myself – you are a headstrong people – or I might exterminate you on the way.’

33:4 On hearing these stern words the people went into mourning, and no one wore his ornaments.

33:5 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say to the sons of Israel, “You are a headstrong people. If I were to go with you, even for a moment only, I should exterminate you. Take off your ornaments, then, that I may know how to deal with you!”‘

33:6 So, from Mount Horeb onwards, the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments.

The Tent

33:7 Moses used to take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp; at some distance from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who had to consult Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp.

33:8 Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise. Every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he reached the Tent;

33:9 the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, and Yahweh would speak with Moses.

33:10 When they saw the pillar of cloud stationed at the entrance to the Tent, all the people would rise and bow low, each at the door of his tent.

33:11 Yahweh would speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.[*a] Then Moses would turn back to the camp, but the young man who was his servant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the Tent.

Moses prays

33:12 Moses said to Yahweh, ‘See, you yourself say to me, “Make the people go on”, but you. do not let me know who it is you will send with me. Yet you yourself have said, “I know you by name and you have won my favour”.

33:13 If indeed I have won your favour, please show me your ways, so that I can understand you and win your favour. Remember, too, that this nation is your own people.’

33:14 Yahweh replied, ‘I myself will go with you, and I will give you rest’.

33:15 Moses said, ‘If you are not going with us yourself, do not make us leave this place.

33:16 By what means can it be known that I, I and my people, have won your favour, if not by your going with us? By this we shall be marked out, I and my people, from all the peoples on the face of the earth.’

33:17 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Again I will do what you have asked, because you have won my favour and because I know you by name’.

Moses on the mountain

33:18 Moses said, ‘Show me your glory, I beg you’.

33:19 And he said, ‘I will let all my splendour pass in front of you, and I will pronounce before you the name Yahweh. I have compassion on whom I will, and I show pity to whom I please.

33:20 You cannot see my face,’ he said ‘for man cannot see me and live.’

33:21 And Yahweh said, ‘Here is a place beside me. You must stand on the rock,

33:22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with my hand while I pass by.

33:23 Then I will take my hand away and you shall see the back of me; but my face is not to be seen.’

JB EXODUS Chapter 34

The Covenant renewed. The tablets of the Law

34:1 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain, and I will inscribe on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

34:2 Be ready by morning, and come up to the mountain of Sinai at dawn; await my orders there at the top of the mountain.

34:3 No one must come up with you, no one be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and herds may not graze in front of this mountain.’

34:4 And so Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first and, with the two tablets of stone in his hands, he went up the mountain of Sinai in the early morning as Yahweh had commanded him.

34:5 And Yahweh descended in the form of a cloud, and Moses stood with him there.

God appears

He called on the name of Yahweh.

34:6 Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, ‘Yahweh, Yahweh, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness;

34:7 for thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin; yet he lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation’.

34:8 And Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped.

34:9 ‘If I have indeed won your favour, Lord,’ he said ‘let my Lord come with us, I beg. True, they are a headstrong people, but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.’

The Covenant

34:10 Yahweh said, ‘I am about to make a covenant with you. In the presence of all your people I shall work such wonders as have never been worked in any land or in any nation. All the people round you will see what Yahweh can do, for what I shall do through you will be awe-inspiring.

34:11 Mark, then, what I command you today. I mean to drive out the Amorites before you, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites.

34:12 Take care you make no pact with the inhabitants of the land you are about to enter, or this will prove a pitfall at your very feet.

34:13 You are to tear down their altars, smash their standing-stones, cut down their sacred poles.[*a],

34:14 ‘You shall bow down to no other god, for Yahweh’s name is the Jealous One; he is a jealous God.

34:15 Make no pact with the inhabitants of the land or, when they prostitute themselves to their own gods and sacrifice to them, they may invite you and you may consent to eat from their victim;

34:16 or else you may choose wives for your sons from among their daughters and these, prostituting themselves to their own gods, may induce your sons to do the same.

34:17 ‘You shall make yourself no gods of molten metal.

34:18 ‘You shall celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread: you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

34:19 ‘All that first issues from the womb is mine: every male, every first-born of flock or herd.

34:20 But the first-born donkey you must redeem with an animal from your flocks. If you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. You must redeem all the first-born of your sons. And no one is to come before me empty-handed.

34:21 ‘For six days you shall labour, but on the seventh day you shall rest, even at ploughing time and harvest.

34:22 ‘You shall celebrate the feast of Weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of Ingathering at the close of the year.

34:23 ‘Three times a year all your menfolk must present themselves before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.

34:24 ‘When I have dispossessed the nations for you and extended your frontiers, no one will covet your land, if you present yourselves three times in the year before Yahweh your God.

34:25 ‘You must not offer the blood of the victim sacrificed to me at the same time as you offer unleavened bread, nor is the victim offered at the feast of Passover to be put aside for the following day.

34:26 ‘You must bring the best of the first-fruits of your soil to the house of Yahweh your God. You must not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.’

34:27 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Put these words in writing, for they are the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel’.

34:28 He stayed there with Yahweh for forty days and forty nights, eating and drinking nothing. He inscribed on the tablets the words of the Covenant – the Ten Words.

Moses comes down from the mountain

34:29 When Moses came down from the mountain of Sinai – as he came down from the mountain, Moses had the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands – he did not know that the skin on his face was radiant after speaking with Yahweh.

34:30 And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, the skin on his face shone so much that they would not venture near him.

34:31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community came back to him; and he spoke to them.

34:32 Then all the sons of Israel came closer, and he passed on to them all the orders that Yahweh had given him on the mountain of Sinai.

34:33 And when Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.

34:34 Whenever he went into Yahweh’s presence to speak with him, Moses would remove the veil until he came out again. And when he came out, he would tell the sons of Israel what he had been ordered to pass on to them,

34:35 and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he returned to speak with Yahweh.

JB EXODUS Chapter 35

VI. THE FURNISHING AND BUILDING OF THE SANCTUARY

The sabbath rest

35:1 Moses assembled the whole community of the sons of Israel and said to them, ‘These are the things Yahweh has ordered to be done:

35:2 Work is to be done for six days, but the seventh is to be a holy day for you, a day of complete rest, consecrated to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on that day shall be put to death.

35:3 You must not light a fire on the sabbath day in any of your homes.’

The materials are collected

35:4 Moses spoke to the whole community of the sons of Israel. ‘This’ he said ‘is what Yahweh has commanded:

35:5 Set aside a contribution for Yahweh out of your possessions. Let all give willingly and bring this contribution for Yahweh: gold, silver and bronze;

35:24 All who could contribute to the collection of silver and bronze brought their contribution for Yahweh. And all who happened to own acacia wood, suitable for any of the work to be done, brought it.

35:25 All the skilled women set their hands to spinning, and brought purple stuffs, of violet shade and red, crimson stuffs and fine linen, from what they had spun.

35:26 All the women willingly used their special skill and spun the goats’ hair.

35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in ephod and pectoral,

35:28 and the spices and oil for the light, for the chrism and for the fragrant incense.

35:29 All the men and women whose heart prompted them to contribute to all the work that Yahweh had ordered through Moses to be done – the sons of Israel brought their free offering to Yahweh.

The craftsmen for the sanctuary

35:30 Moses said to the sons of Israel, ‘See, Yahweh has singled out Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

35:31 He has filled him with the spirit of God and endowed him with skill and perception and knowledge for every kind of craft:

35:32 for the art of designing and working in gold and silver and bronze;

35:33 for cutting stones to be set, for carving in wood, for every kind of craft.

35:34 And on him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, he has bestowed the gift of teaching.

35:35 He has filled them with skill to carry out all the crafts of engraver, damask weaver, embroiderer in purple stuffs, of violet shade and red, in crimson stuffs and fine linen, or of the common weaver; they are able to do work of all kinds, and to do it with originality’.

JB EXODUS Chapter 36

36:1 Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled craftsmen whom Yahweh had endowed with the skill and perception to carry out all that was required for the building of the sanctuary, did their work exactly as Yahweh had directed.

A halt is called to the collection

36:2 Moses then summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled craftsmen whose hearts Yahweh had endowed with skill, all whose heart prompted them to offer to do the work.

36:3 From Moses they received all that the sons of Israel had brought as contributions for the work of building the sanctuary. As these continued each morning to bring

36:4 their offerings, the skilled craftsmen, busy with the various works on the sanctuary, all left their work

36:5 and went to tell Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than is needed for the work Yahweh has directed us to do’.

36:6 At Moses’ command, therefore, this proclamation was made throughout the camp: ‘Let no one, man or woman, do anything more towards the collection for the sanctuary.’ So the people were stopped from bringing any more;

36:7 the material they had was enough, and more than enough, to complete all the work.

The tabernacle

36:8 All the most skilled craftsmen among the workers made the tabernacle. He made it with ten sheets of fine twined linen, of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and of crimson stuffs, finely brocaded with cherubs.

36:9 The length of a single sheet was twenty-eight cubits, its width four cubits, all the sheets being of the same size.

36:10 He joined five of the sheets together, and the other five similarly.

36:11 He attached loops of violet stuff to the border of the last sheet in one set, and did the same for the border of the last sheet in the other set.

36:12 He put fifty loops on the first sheet and, matching them one by one, fifty loops on the border of the last sheet in the second set.

36:13 He made fifty gold clasps and with them drew the sheets together. In this way the tabernacle was a unified whole.

36:14 Next he made sheets of goats’ hair to form a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven of these.

36:15 The length of a single sheet was thirty cubits, its width four cubits; the eleven sheets were all of the same size.

36:16 He joined five of these sheets together into one set, the remaining six into another.

36:17 He attached fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in one set, and fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in the second set.

36:18 And he made fifty bronze clasps, so as to draw the tent together and make it a unified whole.

36:19 For the tent he made a covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather to spread over it.

The framework

36:20 For the tabernacle he made frames of acacia wood, these to stand upright.

36:21 Each frame was ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

36:22 Each frame was fitted with twin tenons; this he did for all the frames of the tabernacle.

36:23 He made the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the southern side, facing the south country.

36:24 He made forty silver sockets for putting under the twenty frames: two sockets under the first frame to receive its two tenons, and so on for the other frames.

36:25 For the other side of the tabernacle, on the north, he made twenty frames

36:26 and forty silver sockets, two sockets under each frame.

36:27 For the back of the tabernacle, on the west, he made six frames.

36:28 And he made two frames for the corners at the back of the tabernacle.

36:29 These frames were coupled at their lower end and so to the top, up to the level of the first ring; this he did with the two frames that were to form the two corners.

36:30 Thus there were eight frames with their sixteen silver sockets; two sockets under each frame.

36:31 He made crossbars of acacia wood: five to hold the frames together that were to form one side of the tabernacle,

36:32 five on the other side to hold the frames that were to form the end of the tabernacle on the west.

36:33 He made the middle bar, fixed half-way up, to run from one end to the other.

36:34 He plated the frames with gold, and put gold rings on them to take the crossbars which he plated with gold.

The veil

36:35 He made the veil of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, of crimson stuffs, and of fine twined linen, skilfully embroidered with cherubs.

36:36 For hanging this veil he made four posts of acacia wood and plated them with gold, with golden hooks, and he cast four silver sockets for them.

36:37 For the entrance to the tent he made a screen of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and of crimson stuffs and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer.

36:38 For the hanging of this he made five posts, and their hooks; their capitals and rods he plated with gold; their five sockets were of bronze.

JB EXODUS Chapter 37

The ark

37:1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high.

37:2 He plated it, inside and out, with pure gold, and decorated it all round with a gold moulding.

37:3 He cast four gold rings for the ark, attaching them to its four feet: two rings on one side and two rings on the other.

37:4 He also made shafts of acacia wood plating them with gold;

37:5 and he passed the shafts through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it.

37:6 Also he made of pure gold a throne of mercy, two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.

37:7 For the two ends of this throne of mercy he made two golden cherubs; he made them of beaten gold,

37:8 the first cherub for one end and the second for the other, and fastened them to the two ends of the throne of mercy so that they made one piece with it.

37:9 The cherubs had their wings spread upwards so that they overshadowed the throne of mercy. They faced one another, their faces towards the throne of mercy.

The table for the offertory bread

37:10 He made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.

37:11 He plated it with pure gold, and decorated it all round with a gold moulding.

37:12 He fitted it with struts, one hand’s breadth wide, and decorated these with a golden moulding.

37:13 He cast four gold rings for it and fixed these at the four corners where the four legs were.

37:14 The rings lay close to the struts to hold the shafts for carrying the table.

37:15 He made the shafts of acacia wood and plated them with gold; these were for carrying the table.

37:16 He made the furnishings of pure gold for the table: dishes, cups, jars and libation bowls.

The lamp-stand

37:17 He made the lamp-stand of pure gold, and made the lamp-stand, base and stem, of beaten gold. Its cups – calyx and petals – were of one piece with it.

37:18 Six branches extended from the sides of it, three from one side, three from the other.

37:19 The first branch carried three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals; the second branch, too, carried three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals, and similarly all six branches extending from the lamp-stand.

37:20 The lamp-stand itself carried four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyx and petals,

37:21 thus: one calyx under the first two branches extending from the lamp-stand, one under the next pair, one under the last pair: corresponding to the six branches extending from the lamp-stand.

37:22 The calyxes and the branches were of one piece with the lamp-stand, and the whole was made from a single piece of pure gold, beaten out.

37:23 Then he made the lamps for it, seven of them, and its snuffers and trays of pure gold.

37:24 He used a talent of pure gold for making the lamp-stand and all its accessories.

The altar of incense. Chrism and incense

37:25 He made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was one cubit long, and one cubit wide – that is to say, square – and two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it.

37:26 The top of it, its surrounding sides, and its horns, he plated with pure gold, and decorated it all round with a gold moulding.

37:27 He fixed two gold rings to it below the moulding on its two opposite sides, to take the shafts used for carrying it.

37:28 These shafts he made of acacia wood and plated with gold.

37:29 He also made the sacred chrism and the pure, fragrant incense, blending it as perfumers do.

JB EXODUS Chapter 38

The altar of holocaust

38:1 He made the altar of holocaust out of acacia wood, a square five cubits long and five cubits wide, its height three cubits.

38:2 At its four corners he put horns, the horns being of one piece with it, and plated it with bronze.

38:3 He made all the altar vessels: pans for the ashes, shovels, sprinkling basins, hooks, fire pans; he made all the vessels for the altar out of bronze.

38:4 He made a grating for it of bronze network which he set under the ledge, below, so that it reached half-way up the altar.

38:5 He cast four rings and fixed them on the four corners of the bronze grating to take the shafts.

38:6 He made the shafts of acacia wood and plated them with bronze.

38:7 He placed these through the rings fixed to the sides of the altar for carrying it, and he made the altar hollow, of boards.

The bronze basin

38:8 He made the bronze basin and its bronze support from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

The court

38:9 He made the court. For the southern side of the court, facing the south country, there were one hundred cubits of hangings of fine twined linen.

38:10 Their twenty posts with their twenty sockets were of bronze, their hooks and rods of silver.

38:11 For the northern side there were one hundred cubits of hangings; their twenty posts with their twenty sockets were of bronze, their hooks and rods of silver.

38:12 For the western side, fifty cubits of hangings, carried on ten posts set in ten sockets, with their hooks and rods of silver.

38:13 Fifty cubits, too, for the eastern side facing the sunrise.

38:14 On one side of the gateway there were fifteen cubits of hangings, carried on three posts set in three sockets.

38:15 On the other side – either side of the entrance to the court – there were fifteen cubits of hangings with their three posts and three sockets.

38:16 All the hangings enclosing the court were of fine twined linen.

38:17 The sockets for the posts were of bronze and their hooks of silver, like the plating on their capitals. The posts for the court all had their rods of silver.

38:18 The screen for the gateway of the court, the work of a skilled embroiderer, was made of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, of crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and, along the width of it, five cubits high, like the hangings of the court.

38:19 Its four posts with their four sockets were of bronze. The hooks for the posts were of silver, like the plating on their capitals and like their rods.

38:20 The pegs for the tabernacle and for the court enclosure were all of bronze.

The amount of metal used

38:21 Here is the account of metals used for the tabernacle – the tabernacle of the Testimony – the account drawn up by order of Moses, the work of the Levites[*a] under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.

38:22 Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh had directed Moses to have made.

38:23 His partner was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, engraver, damask weaver, embroiderer in purple stuffs, of violet shade and red, in crimson stuffs and fine linen.

38:24 The amount of gold used in the work – the entire work for the sanctuary – (this was gold consecrated by offering) was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels (reckoning by the sanctuary shekel).

38:25 The silver collected when the census of the community was taken weighed one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels (reckoning by the sanctuary shekel),

38:26 one beqa per head, or half a shekel (reckoning by the sanctuary shekel) for everyone of twenty years and over included in the census. These numbered six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

38:27 The hundred talents of silver were used for casting the sockets for the sanctuary and for the veil: one hundred sockets out of the hundred talents, or one talent per socket.

38:28 With the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made the hooks for the posts, the plating for their capitals, and their rods.

38:29 The bronze consecrated by offering amounted to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels,

38:30 and with this he made the sockets for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar with its grating of bronze and all the furnishings for it,

38:31 the sockets for the enclosure of the court, those for the gateway to the court, all the pegs for the tabernacle, and all the pegs for the court enclosure.

JB EXODUS Chapter 39

The vestments of the high priest

39:1 From the purple stuffs, violet shade and red, the crimson stuffs, and the fine linen he made sumptuous vestments for service in the sanctuary. They made the sacred vestments for Aaron, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

The ephod

39:2 They made the ephod of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen.

39:3 They beat gold into thin plates, and cut these into fine strips to weave into the purple stuffs, violet shade and red, into the crimson stuffs and the fine linen, as does the weaver of damask.

39:4 For the ephod they made two shoulder-straps, joined to it at its two ends.

39:5 The woven band on it to hold it formed one piece with it and was of similar workmanship: this was of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

39:6 They fashioned the onyx stones, mounted in settings of gold mesh and engraved, as a seal is engraved, with the names of the sons of Israel.

39:7 They fastened the stones to the shoulder-straps of the ephod, stones commemorating the sons of Israel, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

The pectoral of judgement

39:8 They made the pectoral, finely brocaded, of the same workmanship as the ephod, of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and fine twined linen.

39:9 It was square and they doubled it over, a span in length and a span in width.

39:10 In this they set four rows of stones. Sard, topaz, carbuncle, for the first row;

39:11 emerald, sapphire, diamond, the second row;

39:12 the third row, hyacinth, ruby, amethyst;

39:13 the fourth row, beryl, onyx, jasper. These were mounted in settings of gold mesh.

39:14 They bore the names of the sons of Israel and, like their names, were twelve in number. They were engraved as seals are, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

39:15 For the pectoral they made chains of pure gold twisted like cords.

39:16 They made two gold rosettes and two gold rings,

39:17 and they fastened the two gold cords to the two rings fixed on the corners of the pectoral.

39:18 The other two ends of the cords they fastened to the two rosettes; they were thus attached to the shoulder-straps of the ephod, on the front.

39:19 They made two gold rings and fixed them to the two lower corners of the pectoral, on the inner hem, next to the ephod.

39:20 And they made two more gold rings and fixed them low down on the front of the two shoulder-straps of the ephod, close to the join, above the woven band of the ephod.

39:21 They secured the pectoral by passing a ribbon of violet-purple through its rings and those of the ephod, so that the pectoral would sit above the woven band and not come apart from the ephod, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

The robe

39:22 Then they made the robe of the ephod woven entirely of violet-purple.

39:23 The opening in the centre of it was like the neck of a coat of mail; round the opening was a border to keep the robe from tearing.

39:24 The lower hem of the robe they decorated with pomegranates of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen.

39:25 They also made bells of pure gold and placed them all round the lower hem of the robe between the pomegranates,

39:26 bells and pomegranates alternately all round the lower hem of the robe of office, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

The vestments of the priests

39:27 Then they made the tunics of finely woven linen for Aaron and his sons,

39:28 the turban of fine linen, the head-dresses of fine linen, the breeches of fine twined linen,

39:29 the girdles of fine twined linen, of purple stuffs, violet shade and red, and of crimson stuffs, finely embroidered, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

39:30 They also made the plate, the holy diadem, of pure gold, and engraved on it ‘Consecrated to Yahweh’, as a man engraves a seal.

39:31 They attached to this a ribbon of violet-purple to secure it to the top of the turban, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

39:32 So all the work of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. In carrying it out the sons of Israel had done exactly as Yahweh had directed Moses.

The finished work presented to Moses

39:33 They brought to Moses the tabernacle, the Tent and all its furnishings: its hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, sockets;

39:34 the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, the covering of fine leather, and the screening veil;

39:35 the ark of the testimony with its shafts and the throne of mercy;

39:36 the table with all its furnishings, and the loaves of offering;

39:37 the lamp-stand of pure gold with its lamps – the lamps that were to be set on it – and all its accessories; the oil, too, for the light;

39:38 the golden altar, the chrism, the fragrant incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent;

39:39 the bronze altar with its grating of bronze, its shafts and all its furnishings; the basin and its stand;

39:40 the hangings of the court, its posts, its sockets, and the screen for the gateway to the court, its cords, its pegs, and all the furniture for the service in the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting;

39:41 the sumptuous vestments for service in the sanctuary – sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, and vestments for his sons – for the priestly functions.

39:42 The sons of Israel had done all the work exactly as Yahweh had directed Moses.

39:43 Moses examined the whole work, and he could see they had done it as Yahweh had directed him. And Moses blessed them.

JB EXODUS Chapter 40

The sanctuary erected and consecrated

40:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

40:2 ‘On the first day of the first month you are to erect the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting,

40:3 and place the ark of the Testimony in it, screening it with the veil.

40:4 Bring in the table, arranging what is to be set in order on it. Bring in the lamp-stand, too, and set up its lamps.

40:5 Place the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the Testimony, and set up the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.

40:6 Place the altar of holocaust in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

40:7 Place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and fill it with water.

40:8 Set up the enclosure of the court and hang the screen at the gateway of the court.

40:9 Then, taking the chrism, anoint the tabernacle and everything in it, consecrating it with its furniture, to make it a holy place.

40:10 Anoint the altar of holocaust with all its furnishings; and consecrate the altar which henceforth will be a most holy thing.

40:11 Anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it.

40:12 Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and see that they bathe.

40:13 Then clothe Aaron with the sacred vestments, and anoint and consecrate him, to serve me in the priesthood.

40:14 Next, bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.

40:15 Anoint them as you have anointed their father, to serve me in the priesthood. This anointing of them is to confer the priesthood on them in perpetuity from generation to generation.’

The divine commands are carried out

40:16 Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had directed him.

40:17 The tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.

40:18 Moses erected the tabernacle. He fixed the sockets for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts.

40:19 He spread the tent over the tabernacle and on top of this the covering for the tent, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:20 He took the Testimony and placed it inside the ark. He set the shafts to the ark and placed the throne of mercy on it.

40:21 He brought the ark into the tabernacle and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the ark of Yahweh, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:22 He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil,

40:23 and on it arranged the loaves before Yahweh, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:24 He put the lamp-stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle;

40:25 and he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:26 He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the veil,

40:27 and on it burnt fragrant incense, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:28 Then he put the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.

40:29 He put the altar of holocaust at the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and on it offered the holocaust and the oblation, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:30 He put the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and filled it with water for the ablutions;

40:31 this was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet:

40:32 whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar they washed, as Yahweh had directed Moses.

40:33 Moses then set up the court round the tabernacle and the altar and placed the screen at the gateway to the court. Thus Moses completed the work.

Yahweh takes possession of the sanctuary

40:34 The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.

40:35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the glory of Yahweh that filled the tabernacle.

The cloud guides the Israelites

40:36 At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the tabernacle the sons of Israel would resume their march.

40:37 If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not march until it did.

40:38 For the cloud of Yahweh rested on the tabernacle by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night, for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.